What Wasn't Meant to Be
by Sushifishie
Summary: MARS: the alternate universe where a suicide didn't occur and a certain Shiori never existed :COMPLETE
1. Pure Luck

DISCLAIMER:  Standard disclaimers apply to entire fanfic (so you only have to read this once ^.~)!

AUTHOR'S NOTES:  Hey y'all!  I'm back with ANOTHER fanfic, but I'm really excited about this one.  It's MARS!!!  Be happy all you die-hard fans!  I began writing this after reading only 3 volumes, so some of my information may be inaccurate to the complete story. ;_; It's Alternate Universe, though, so maybe it won't be so noticeable.  The first three pages are without dialogue because it's a sort of perception piece.  Just get past that and I promise that it will get more interesting.  Happy reading, please enjoy and review!

What Wasn't Meant to Be by Sushifishie

Chapter One: Pure Luck

_So, it's finally the last day of junior high, thought Sei as he passed through melancholy groups of children, sad to leave each other as they went on to different high schools.  But Sei wasn't sad at all; his best friend was moving onto high school with him.  Their promise was to be together forever, and Sei felt that the promise meant much more than any other._

Another thought occurred to him soon after the first.  His friend might not be going with him to his new school.  Wanting to race motorcycles instead, his friend was abandoning him.  Not only his friend, but his mother and father, too, had given up on him.  His mother died when he was still young, leaving him with his father.  But that man had sent him and his friend to Los Angeles to live with his aunt.  Now that his friend was leaving him, also, it was all too much.

Sei didn't know what he would do if Rei really left him.  He might just stop, if that were at all possible.  If you heard that your best friend was leaving you because he would rather work than spend time with you, how might you feel?  _I just wish that he would change his mind! he hoped, grabbing the books from his locker.  The blue locker wasn't particularly messy, not counting all his art materials, but it could still use a good cleaning.  __Do I ever even use some of this junk?_

Seeing on his watch that he had ten minutes until lunch, he decided to do a little bit of cleaning.  First he took all of his books off the top shelf and piled them next to his feet.  He removed his other essentials, namely folders, notebooks, and his pencil case.  Soon, the trash was full with his excess papers and used up art supplies.  The locker was now squeaky clean, and it was hard to believe that it was ever dirty.

Sei plodded to the lunch room, still thinking about Rei's motorcycles.  Rei liked the bikes as much as he liked art, but they were taking over Rei's life.  He was getting somewhat reckless, and it would be the death of him yet.  He got in the lunch line and bought himself a sub.  Sitting down at his favorite table in the corner, he glanced around the room.

Sitting with a group of friends was Rei.  They were all laughing at something, not caring what they sounded like to other people.  Sei admired that about them.  He always wished that he could be as aloof as they were, but every time he tried, he got too self conscious.  Always feeling like someone was staring at him, judging his every move, he couldn't manage to be like them.

They laughed about something again, and some girls from the next table started yelling at them to shut-up.  Rei got out of his seat and wrapped his arm around one of their shoulders.  Suddenly, he was smearing mashed potatoes in her face, laughing all the way.  Feeling kind of bad for the girl, Sei almost got out of his seat.  But, then, he remembered that the girl was surrounded by her friends.  They were friends who always sat with her at lunch; friends who always stuck up for her.  _Those kinds of people would never leave their best friend, and twin, all alone so that they could pursue a career in motorcycle racing._

The rest of the day went by in a blur, similar to all other days.  That was besides the fact that all the girls were acting weepy and all the boys, macho, about the last day of school.  His remaining classes were mostly made of final tests and grade updates.  Everyone was talking to one another, saying their goodbyes, and Sei felt somewhat left out.  Knowing that he had Rei, he never really bothered to make any new friends in school, and the years just crept up on him.  Now that he was leaving, he had no one to say goodbye to.

He trudged to his last event of school, the art club.  They met in an ill-lit room because the club didn't have enough members to use a better room.  Art wasn't a very popular thing to do, and seven members wasn't a very impressive number.  The funding went to basketball and swimming, clubs that had a lot of interest.  But money wasn't needed for art, after all, everyone's heard of a starving artist.  Right?

His current project was sitting on one of the easels, covered in a sheet to protect it from the dust.  Sei pulled off the cover to reveal a beautiful, light sketch of a wonderful woman.  _Hello, Mom, said Sei to himself.  The painting was of his mother, and was an unbelievable work in progress.  It was a symbol of all the love he still had for his mother, and he planned on giving it to Rei._

Sei pulled out his paints, ready to put on the first layer of color.  It would have to be perfect; he couldn't afford to make mistakes.  He started with the lightest color, her fair skin.  He continued on to her hair and shading.  By the time he got to her eyes, he was soaring.  It was turning out just as he thought it would, without many mistakes.  He put in the iris and the pupil, and finally began to outline her eyes.  With thin, light strokes, he swept on the color, and made her look beautiful... for about a second.

The next thing he knew, her eyes started dripping.  Black paint cascaded down her face, trickled over her chin, and fell off the canvas.  Why did it happen this way, why?  Not that it mattered anyway.  Just like everyone else he'd ever loved, she had left him, too.  His father, his mother, and now Rei, all had left him, abandoned him.  There wasn't anyone left who would mind if he died.  Imagine no one acknowledging your existence, not even realizing that you're alive.  Is there really any reason to live in a situation like that?

He continued to stare at his mother's face, expressionless.  Sei picked up his paintbrush and dipped in again into the black paint.  Before he knew it, his mother's face was no more.  It was, instead, palled in a black smear of paint.  He threw his paintbrush down, and ran out of the room, his countenance strangely calm.  Throwing open doors, he headed for the roof.

* * *

Rei hummed as he walked through the halls to the school gate, the designated spot where he and Sei always met after school.  The last day hadn't really affected him all that much.  His goodbyes were brief; he wasn't that close to anyone in particular.  He mostly just hung around a large group of guys who tended to have the same interests as him.

The only person he was really that close to was Sei, and he seemed to be drifting lately.  It all started as soon as he joked about racing motorcycles instead of going to high school.  It was just a joke though; there was no way his old man would ever let him drop out of school!  Not when a wonderful life of office jobs and desk work was left to fulfill!  Rei hated the idea of sitting at a desk all day.  That kind of job was made for weak people, people who didn't have any guts or sense of adventure in them.  How could anyone stand to live like that?  Maybe Sei could, but certainly not him!  Motorcycles were what he was born for, and motorcycles were what he was going to do.

But there was still Sei.  He apparently had some hard feelings about Rei's joke, and felt... _abandoned maybe?  That was impossible, though.  Rei had made a promise to his twin that they would be together forever, and although lately he was branching out, he would never leave his brother.  But, he could understand how Sei might be feeling.  How would he feel if Sei were going to leave him?  He might just want to die; after all... his only close friend was his twin._

Rei glanced around for any sign of his best friend, so that they could walk home together, but there was no sign of him.  Where could he possibly be?  Maybe he should go to the art room, and see what's keeping his brother?  Trudging up the flights of stairs, he headed for that dark little art room that his brother complained about so often.  He hadn't been there in a long time, and he didn't really want to take the time to visit right now.

Entering the scene, he could see almost instantly that Sei was no longer there.  His easel was set up and his paints were left out, uncovered and drying out.  It was very unlike him to be so untidy with his art supplies; not only were they expensive, but that was also very wasteful and his brother was a little bit of an environmentalist.

Rei stepped over to the canvas that his brother was working on.  His eyes came upon a wonderful sketch of a woman all too familiar to him, but her face was defiled by an enormous black splotch.  It was a beautiful picture, and may still be able to be saved, if it were done carefully.  Even he could see that; but where was the artist?

"Does anyone know where Sei Kashino is?" he questioned with a somewhat concerned stance.

"Nope," answered a girl from behind her sculpture.  "I saw him kinda look at his canvas for a long time then paint really messily on it.  Then he left with a completely blank expression, like the soul had been sucked out of him or something.  I think he went that way," pointed the girl.

"Thanks a lot!" Rei bowed as he ran from the room.  The girl blushed as he blew her a kiss through the window next to the door, still running.

Figuring out where Sei went wasn't too hard of an ordeal to this well informed young man.  He remembered talking to his brother at a sleepover party they'd had for their tenth birthday.  As they were falling asleep, they talked about what chics they thought were hot, what they wished for most in the world, and the place that they'd always wanted to go to.  Some kids had said Los Angeles, others said Australia, but Sei had told them he'd wanted to go to the roof.  He was scared of high places, and only went on the roof during drills.  It amazed Rei that his brother was so cowardly, but he wanted to go.

A few days after the party, Rei brought that up, and Sei had said that he was only kidding, and he really didn't want to go on the roof.  But the twin's intuition told him that Sei was only scared.  Rei made Sei go to the roof anyway, holding his hand as they stepped out onto the breezy height.  Soon, Sei was laughing and running around with his arms wide open, taking in the view.  Rei was given many thanks for this wonderful sight, and soon, it turned into Sei's favorite place to be.

He yanked open the door to the roof, and saw Sei standing on the edge, poised to jump.

"Sei!" he yelled to his brother.  "We have to go home now!"  He walked over, and in a gentler voice added, "Please, come home with me.  I don't know why you're so angry, but please, just take my hand and come back!" he reached out.

After taking one sad, glance back at his brother, Sei stepped off the cold roof, leaving his scarf floating behind him.  Rei stared in disbelief and shock for what seemed like a lifetime.  Then he ran down to the spot where his twin had landed.

There, in front of his and many others' eyes, was the face of his dead brother.  He stood there and stared at his brother, not quite comprehending what was going on.  It was all going by so fast.  First, he was enjoying his last day of junior high before his high school life began.  Next thing he knew, his brother was mentally screwed and suicidal.  How did it come to this?  Was his life really that bad until now, that he had to jump to escape from it all?  Wide-eyed, Rei stared at his twin, harder than before.  There were secrets held within this mind, and he just had to get them out.  He came to his senses as soon as the paramedics arrived.

"Paramedics, coming through," a woman dressed in white yelled.  "Spectators, clear the scene!" She looked at Rei, who was still standing by his brother, even after her urgent warning.  "Please move aside!" she yelled at him.  "We're seeing if we can save your brother," she added, in a slightly less harsh voice.

Rei took a few steps back, which seemed to be enough for the woman, because she got off of his case.  He watched as paramedics checked for signs of life in his neck.  "He can still make it!" he heard someone shout.  Before he knew it, Rei was finally letting out a deep sigh that he'd been holding in for who knows how long.  But all the pent up energy finally had gotten to his head, because before you can say sleeping, he was passed out on the concrete.

* * *

Waking up to white walls and the smell of disinfectant could only mean one obvious thing to Rei; he was in a hospital.  He sat in a green leather chair by a bed filled by his twin.  Seeing that he wasn't on a breathalyzer, Rei let out a sigh of relief.  He checked his brother for any serious damage, but he didn't find any besides some swelling.  Knowing this, he collapsed back into the chair, without even realizing that he had been standing up.

Staring all around, he began to take in his surroundings.  It was a typical hospital room, a double without anyone currently on the other side of the curtain (which was forest green).   There was a table to go over Sei when he wanted to eat, and a bedside table which held a very tempting remote for the television hanging in the corner.  Standing in the doorway was a very hot nurse, looking over her clipboard with an expression not to be tampered with.  He shouldn't be picking up girls while his brother was in the hospital.  In actuality, he was just too young for her.

Rei got back to the matter at hand; his brother's welfare.  Was he hurt very badly?  What pushed him over the edge?  How did this happen?  He asked the nurse these various questions and she answered, "First, he has a concussion, but that will get better over some time.  He won't be able to play sports anymore, because it would be very serious if he got hurt again.  Second, we've talked to your father about enrolling both of you in counseling.  It could help you vent, and maybe keep Sei healthy.  Third, he obviously jumped off a building.  We're not quite sure just how he landed so as not to hurt himself worse than he was.  I suppose that it was just pure luck!"

"Thanks for your help," he said, bowing to the nurse as she checked temperature and blood pressure of the patient.  "How long do you think it will be until he'll be released?"

The nurse thought about this for a while, and then responded, "I'd guess he'll be out some time in the next few weeks; definitely by the time school starts again for you two.  High school, I'm guessing?"

"Yeah," Rei nodded with a smile.  As she walked away, he bowed again, "Thank you!"

He took a short nap, and woke up to a noise in the room.  Looking around, he found out that it was just Sei retching into a pail next to his bed.  Rei stood up and patted his twin on the back, making him notice his presence.  He was done throwing up soon, and Rei called the nurse to come clean out the bucket.  The thing about nurses is that you couldn't possibly hate them.  They do a wonderful job of keeping the doctors moving straight and helping the patients with everything, no matter how disgusting.  Sei had an undying respect for nurses, and thanked her when she came in.

"Oh, it's fine!" she replied with a bright smile.  "It's my job!"  She cleaned the pail and put it next to his bedside again, just in case.  Then, she left the room again.

Sei looked down at his hands, which were fiddling with the edge of the sheet.  His expression was an odd mixture of stern and grim, not really knowing what emotion to feel.  What could he say to this person who drove him to try to kill himself?  He should have been dead by now, but instead, was given this opportunity to make things right, and he knew that Rei would try to do so.  He would try to talk him out of this "nonsense" or something like that, then give him a big hug and tell him that it was okay, because he was the weaker of the two.

Instead of what Sei thought, Rei yelled, "What the hell were you thinking?  Scaring everyone like that, jumping off of buildings, why would you do something like that?  Did you think that it would only affect you?  Did you think that no one would care?" Rei asked, breaking into sobs.  "Well guess what Sei, you were wrong.  You ruined my last day of school, and almost my life.  What would I have done if you died, huh?  Where would that leave me?"

Silently, Sei reached out his arms, and wrapped them around Rei's neck.  "I'm sorry," he said, crying, too.

They sat like that for awhile, just holding each other in a tight embrace.  To some, it may have been odd, to see two brothers so close to one another.  But, looking deeper, they would see that it was not just brotherly love, but a connection between best friends.

They heard a clatter and turned to see an embarrassed Kyoko pushing a pot of flowers onto the bedside table.  "Sorry!" she apologized.  "I don't mean to disturb you, but your dad told me to bring this to you," she said, gesturing the flowers.  "He said to give you this card, too."  She added, handing him a store-bought sympathy card, not even signed.

Sei looked at the card for about half a second before tossing it into the trash.  No one had to ask why, and they all looked around with ashamed faces.

"He's at work," Kyoko said, breaking the deafening silence.  "He just couldn't get away to come see you right now.  He promised to drop by later, maybe." In a rush she added, "But, he does send his love and greetings!"  She blushed when she saw the blank faces of the twins.  "Um, I hope you get better soon, Sei.  I've got to get back to my job now, so I'll see you guys later, okay?"  she said with a little wave as she left the room.

Rei nodded at her and watched her leave with a sort of dread.  With Kyoko there, he didn't have to think about what Sei did, just about his father and the same hate that Rei had always felt toward him.  Now that she left, though, he had to puzzle over what he would say to Sei.  What can you say to someone who tried to kill himself?

            "Um," Sei began, jerking Rei away from his thoughts.  "Can I have a glass of water?  My mouth tastes really foul."

            "Sure!" he replied, happy to have something useful to do, rather than just standing there looking awkward.  But then, of course Sei would have done that for him.  After all, he knew exactly what Rei was thinking.  But this one time, Rei had no idea what his twin was thinking.  Why would he do such a thing?

            Rei brought Sei his water, and he chugged it down in a just a couple of seconds.  He wiped his top lip with the edge of his hand, like you always see little boys do, and Rei felt compassion toward his brother.  Whatever had driven Sei to do something like kill himself, it probably was something big.  Sei didn't do something unless he had a very good reason, so he probably had one this time, too.  But what?

            "Thanks," Sei told him with a half-hearted smile.  Rei knew, though, that he was just humoring him, that something deeper was going on inside his twin's mind.

            "Sei," began Rei, shakily.  "Why did you do it?"

            Sei took a deep breath.  Even though he tried to be angry at Rei, he just had to give in.  Rei genuinely had no idea why he would try to kill himself, so he would just have to enlighten him.  "There's only one Rei," he finally says.

            Rei looked puzzled.  "What's that supposed to mean?"

            "I mean, that this is exactly like something that I would do.  It's practically expected of me.  I'm the weak one, Rei!  I can't do anything if I don't have my twin by my side, you know, the strong one who does everything right?  Even Dad's pushing you to go on in school because 'Rei's got so much potential!'  Everyone says that.  What about me, huh?  What about Sei?"  He paused to take a breath.  Rei just stared at his brother, waiting for him to continue.  He wasn't finished yet.

            "I always wished that I could be the one in the spotlight, instead of having to settle for a sideshow.  I wanted to be you, Rei!  To be strong, smart, athletic, and outgoing; but instead, I'm just me, the one without any friends and parents unheard of.  How can anyone live like that?  It's been torture growing up without a mom, because Dad's always gone with work and stuff, but I've always had you.  Now you're talking about quitting school to race motorcycles, one of the worst choices I've heard of!"

            Only Rei knew that the motorcycle thing was a joke, so he just kept quiet.  To interrupt now would be like sticking your hand in shark's mouth.  It was probably better not to.  That was okay, though, because Sei had more to say.

            "I don't want you to leave me.  Then I won't have any friends or family at all!  I could live with Dad, and never see my caretaker except for the occasional 'family dinner.'  You know, when Dad brings fast food at eleven o'clock and expects us to be overjoyed at this wonderful treat?  Well, I don't want to live like that, if it's not with you, Rei!  I could go back to Los Angeles with Aunt and Uncle, but I'd rather not burden them with my presence.  They had more in common with you, anyway."  Sei was practically bawling now, just pouring his heart out to Rei, who sat dumbfounded in the green chair.

            "Remember that promise we made, Rei?  That we'd always be together?  What ever happened to that, huh?  Did that mean nothing to you?  Was I the only person there at the time, the only person who cared?"

            Finally, Rei responded, "No," and pulled his sobbing brother into a big hug.  "I remember the promise, too.  And today, I thought that you were so weak that you were backing out of it.  Did you think about me?  Where would that promise be if you were gone?"  Rei pushed his brother away slightly, and looked into his teary eyes.

            "I never thought of it like that," Sei admitted, going back to the comfort of Rei's shoulder.

            "Then stop your complaining," suggested Rei.  "I'm not really dropping out of school to race motorcycles.  I wouldn't break our promise like that."

            After a minute, Rei broke the hug apart with the explanation, "Don't rely on me too much!  Or else you'll never be able to get a girlfriend," he winked.

            Sei let out a little laugh, and curled back under the covers.  "Thanks, Rei," he said with a smile through his tears.  "I feel better now."

            The nurse walked in the room a few minutes later to find Sei asleep in his bed.  Rei was sitting in the green chair again.  He was asleep, too, holding his twin's hand.

* * *

That evening, Rei was doing his homework in his dad's apartment.  Sei was still the hospital (Kyoko had volunteered to stay with him) and his dad wasn't home from work yet.  Music was pouring out of Rei's headphones and he was concentrating hard on his algebra.  In fact, he was focusing so much that he didn't hear the door open as his dad walked in the room.

            "Rei," he called, a little bit irritated at the lack of acknowledgment.  "Rei!" he called louder, before walking up to his son and kicking his butt.

            "What'd you do that for?" he exploded.

            "I said that I was home; be polite and at least say 'welcome back' or something!"

            "Dad, why didn't you visit Sei," he retorted.  "You couldn't take time off just to go see him when he's in the hospital?"

            "Well," his dad began in a stern voice.  "The school called me at work and said that Sei was being hospitalized because he tried to commit suicide from the top of a building.  I asked them if he would be okay, and they said that he would live.  So, instead of spending my time interrupting his recovery, I enrolled both of you in counseling!"

            "You're sending me to a shrink?" Rei yelled.  "How could you do such a thing to your kid?  If you were just there for Sei, this would never have happened.  Instead, you just let someone else deal with us as soon as times got tough.  Remember when Mom died, and you sent us to L.A. for seven years?  You're doing the same thing now!  You're just letting someone else deal with us!  What kind of a father are you?"

            "I'm just doing what I think is best, son," his father replied, with narrowed eyes.

            "Well," Rei started yelling, "YOU'RE WRONG!"

            He ran from his father all the way to his room, where he slammed the door.

AUTHOR'S NOTES:  Wow!  That was pretty long!  Yay Sushi!  Don't worry, that wasn't the end, there will be more after this.  I just ended this chapter there.  I don't feel that way about psychologists; my brother is in psychology!  I just thought that was the way Rei would feel.  About the "useless" part at the beginning where Sei is cleaning out his locker; I read somewhere that a common sign of a suicide attempt was cleaning up.  So that's why that is.  As I was writing this, I read an online blurb about a future volume that tells about why Sei really tried to kill himself (I don't know why he really did).  So this story is probably REALLY alternate universe!  Did you like it anyway, though?  Don't you think that there should be a separate category for MARS?  I DOOOOO!!!!  Go MARS!!!  Review, and look forward to my next chapter! 


	2. New Beginnings

AUTHOR'S NOTES:  Haven't got much to say except, aren't you happy to be rid of the disclaimer for the rest of this story?  I sure am!

What Wasn't Meant to Be by Sushifishie

Chapter Two: New Beginnings

Rei glared at the dark blue walls of the clinic.  He'd heard once, that darker colors were supposed to be more soothing than bright ones, like red and yellow.  They were certainly working for him, because he didn't usually open up to shrinks.  But recently, for some reason, he was talking more and more about his feelings.  Maybe it was because his brother had tried to commit suicide, or maybe it was because his dad was coming home less and less frequently.  Or maybe it was just the color of the walls.  But, whatever it was, it was working.

            "Rei, are you listening to me?  Please enlighten me to what is on your mind," the doctor said in his kind, passionate tone.

            "I'm just wondering how you guys get all us freaks to open up to you," admitted Rei, rolling his eyes.  He didn't like that the doctor always had to know what he was thinking, but if he didn't open up, then his father would have his head the next time he got a chance.

            The doctor smiled, "It's just what we're trained to do.  There's certain techniques used for dealing with unruly patients, but I generally just ask questions in the calmest manner that I find is possible."

            Rei cocked his head and nodded with a sigh.  He was beginning to get bored with these sessions.  For the entire break between schools, he was being expected to open up to a psychologist for a few days every week.  The sessions were a lot alike; he'd go there, sit bored, eventually say something that the doctor latched on to, and talk about his feelings on that topic.  They were all starting to run together, and he could no longer decipher one from another.  It was all just so dull!

            "Okay, I suppose that I can accept that for an answer," he said, giving the doctor a wary look.  "That's exactly what a nurse I talked to a while ago told me.  'That's my job,' she said."

            "When was it that you were talking to a nurse," the psychologist inquired.

            "When I was at the hospital visiting Sei" he replied, adding a 'no duh' under his breath.

            "And, how did that make you feel?" the doctor questioned, with his never-ending smile.  How very annoying.

            "It didn't make me feel anything.  It was just a weird sense of deja vu when you said that.  That's all!" he yelled at the psychologist.

            "All right," he said, motioning with his hand to keep his voice down.

            Rei found himself continue talking, and next thing he knew, he was opening up to the doctor.  "I guess it made me feel upset.  I mean, there's no reason for there to be people like her doing such a job.  Why is that she needed to take care of Sei?  Shouldn't everyone be independent enough to take care of themselves?"

            The doctor just sat at his chair, taking notes on what he was saying.  With a calm expression, he listened to Rei's every word, ready to imput if it were necessary.

            "I don't know why it had to be Sei that got hurt," he continued, not showing any signs of stopping.  The doctor looked at his watch quickly, then back at Rei.  "I don't know what I would have done if Sei really had killed himself.  How would I have ever gone on?  I'm being shown how dependent I am of him.  I complain about people who 'can't live without their sweetie,' but then, here I am, not knowing what I would do!  I think that I would probably feel like killing myself, too."

            The doctor hardly flinched at this remark.  He raised his eyebrows slightly, wrote it down, and continued to listen.

            "But, then, it's not like anyone would care.  I mean, since Sei would already be gone.  My dad sure wouldn't," Rei thought for a minute, then continued.  "I'm getting really sick of living with that guy.  He's never home or anything and he expects us to clean and cook for ourselves, as well as for him.  I'm getting really sick of it.  How can a person my age, whom should be able to play all day, be working this hard?  I mean, I can't really get a very good job yet, so I still have to work for my meager allowance.  Plus I have school."

            Scribbling furiously on his notepad, the doctor struggled to keep up with Rei's outburst.  But, at the same time, he was very excited.  In the weeks that he had been coming, Rei had never quite opened up.  He'd say some things, but nothing like this.  Even if his train of thought was very jumpy, it was a wonderful breakthrough that had to be taken note of.

            "You know what else I'm getting sick of?  School, that's what.  I'm sick of the teachers.  I'm sick of the homework.  I'm sick of wasting my time on something that I'm never going to use in my future and talking to people that I hate.  Why can't I just quit high school and race motorcycles for the rest of my life?  I'll still live in this area, because I don't want to be apart from Sei, but I could do that.  Why can't I?"

            The doctor looked at his watch again, "I'm very sorry, Rei, but we'll have to pick this back up during our next session.  Thank you for coming, and could you send Sei in, please?"

            "Yeah," Rei replied, taking deep breaths, somehow exhausted from his outburst of information.  "Thank you for your time," he grunted as he bowed and left the room.

            He went through the all too familiar hallway, and out into the waiting room.  There, Sei was patiently waiting, reading a magazine to pass the time.  Rei walked up to him, and pulled the magazine down from in front of his face, saying, "It's your turn."

            "Jeez, Rei," he said, annoyed.  "You could have just told me!"

            "I know," he replied, grinning.  "I was just playing with you."

            "I heard you talking to the doc," Sei commented.  "You're finally opening up to that dude?"

            "You were eavesdropping on my session?" Rei asked, dubiously.

            "Not really," Sei confessed.  "I just heard a lot of loud talking.  I couldn't really make out what you were saying, so don't worry about that.  I just figured that if you were getting worked up enough to talk that loudly, then you were probably saying something with all your heart."  He got a thoughtful expression on his face, and then continued, "I've got to go in for my appointment now.  We'll talk about yours later, okay?"

            "Yeah," he replied, watching his brother go into the blue room.  He picked up the magazine his brother had been reading.  It was a weekly magazine with world news in it; the kind of thing that Sei seemed to care about.  There was an article about global warming, so that was probably what sparked his brother's interest.

            He read about a war in the Middle East and a meeting of the United Nations that was coming up.  None of it was too interesting, but it was something to do.  He could have been doing some last minute paperwork before his high school orientation, but who wants to do that?  Finally, he got to the article on global warming.  It was everything that he'd already heard about; environmentalists complaining about pollution, excessive carbon dioxide, acid rain, and everything else that could possibly be thought of.  It was certainly Sei's kind of article.

            Eventually, Rei started his homework.  He worked through some papers before he finally heard a noise.  It started out faint, and then gradually got louder.  Rei thanked his lucky stars that Sei was the last appointment the doctor had, because there was no one else in the waiting room to witness it.  Rei picked up his jacket, and started to head for the door.  Less than a minute later, his crying brother joined him.

* * *

After a little bit of time, Sei was calmed down and talking in a quiet voice again.  Next to his brother, he walked home from the clinic, a route that was to be taken for the next year or so.  He would be going there however long it would take to make him 'healthy' again.  Although he had tried to kill someone, he got off with only this as a sentence.  It wasn't so bad, and Sei felt terrible for inconveniencing everyone with his immature act, as he had decided it was.

            He'd come to this conclusion during his first session at the clinic.  The doctor hadn't said much of anything, but just let him figure it out by himself.  That was really the best way to learn, and he believed it now with his whole heart.  He had just been inconveniencing people even more by trying to kill himself that if he had decided to live.  Look at what he had to go through now!

            Rei had told him that it was a sort of joke, the quitting school thing.  He never really planned on doing that, and he wanted to keep the promise almost as much as he did.  Rei just really disliked books and learning, and was sick of trying.  Now that he was going through the psychology, too, Sei was sure that they would both get better soon.

            "So," Sei began with a sigh, trying his best to make conversation during the long walk home.  "What did you talk with the doctor about?"

            Rei thought for a minute before replying, "Just stuff."

            "What kind of stuff?"

            "Well," he said, glancing around.  "I talked to him about school."

            "Oh!" Sei replied, happy to have something to work with.  "Have you thought about what clubs you're joining?  School starts in a few days, you know."

            "I don't think I'm joining any club.  I might check out the courts after school, but I don't want to join basketball.  Team sports really aren't my thing, you know?"

            "Yeah," he agreed.  "Well, I'm thinking of joining the art club."  He paused a moment before adding, "What do I mean 'thinking of?'  I'm definitely joining the art club!"

            "Good thing we're in the same class, huh?" Rei smiled, "Now you'll do all of my homework for me!"

            Sei laughed, "NO!"

            They walked in silence for awhile before Rei got bored enough to talk some more.  "I also talked about Dad."

            "What about him?"

            Rei rolled his eyes before yelling, "I'm getting so freaking sick of that guy!  All he does is just work, work, work!  When you were in the hospital, he didn't even take time off to come visit you!"  

            "But," Sei rebutted in a small voice, "I wasn't hurt that bad or anything!  He had no reason to come and see me; he couldn't have done anything.  Besides," continued Sei, his voice slowly rising.  "The only reason he's working is to feed you and put a roof over your head.  Aren't you grateful to him for that, at least?"

            "How could I be!" he yelled.  "He treats me like shit!  He's gonna make me be some office worker who gets a fat ass from sitting at a computer all day!  What kind of a life is that?  An office worker!  Me!  Hah!"

            _When Rei gets mad, he starts to resort to using profanity to make himself heard, Sei thought, angry at his brother.  "I won't have you talking that way about my father, Rei," he said sternly.  "I've got to buy some supplies, so wait for me here, okay?" he asked, walking into a small art shop that they almost passed._

            Rei stood, fuming outside the building.  Who did Sei think he was, telling him what to think of his own father?  He took a few deep breaths, just as the psychologist had instructed.  He thought about the five steps to solving an argument.  The first was to calm down, which was solved with the deep breathing technique.  The second was to put on the other person's shoes.  What was Sei thinking when he said those things?

            No matter how silly Rei had thought this process was in the beginning, when it came to real life, it actually seemed to work in managing anger.  By thinking as Sei might have, he figured that his brother was probably upset about inconveniencing their father or something like that.  After all, he had to work even harder to pay the hospital bills, not to mention the ones from the psychologist.  Their dad didn't get paid that much, so maybe he was putting in extra hours to pay off their debts.  Maybe that's what Sei was seeing, even thought Rei was acting narrow-minded?

            Rei was completely calm now.  His heavy breathing was gone, and he wasn't even slightly annoyed with Sei anymore.  His twin could see a lot more than he could when it came to debates.  He could do the five steps much better than he could, too.  His brother would remember that the third step was talk to the other person about the conflict.  So, he had to wait for Sei to come back out of course.    The fourth and the fifth steps were to come to an agreement on the conflict and to decide what to do differently in the future.

            Finally, Sei came out of the art store, holding a bag containing pastels and oil paint.  He was no longer angry, as Rei could see from the considerate expression on his face.  He had a sort of air around him, like he understood something a little bit better.  It was obvious to him that Sei had followed the steps, too.  He asked his brother if this was true, and Sei responded, "Oh!  You used them, too?"

            They smiled at each other, and Rei thought of a sappy children's story he'd once seen.  It was a bit like this, where two kids who hated each other finally understood each other and became best friends for the rest of their life.  He remembered something about the story that he'd forgotten, and quickly told it to Sei.

            "I'm sorry," he said.  "I didn't mean to blow up at you like that.  I was just really mad at Dad for working so hard."

            "No," Sei told him.  "It's me who should be sorry.  I was being narrow-minded.  I should have thought of it from your point of view."

            "We're so lame sounding," Rei said, laughing.

            "I know," he responded.  "It's like we're in a play or something, a really bad one."

            "With bad actors, too," Rei imputed.  "And trashy scenery," he added, gesturing to the scruffy street they were walking beside.

            "Yeah," agreed Sei as they approached their home.  He opened the door with a smile, because even though their dad wasn't home yet, he still had his brother to watch over him.

* * *

Sei stiffly walked through the crowds of people.  About half of them were staring at him and Rei as they made their way through the halls.  It was the first day of high school, and it seemed that the entire student body wanted to feast their eyes on the Kashino brothers.  It wasn't surprising though.  Not only did they have blonde hair, they were a beautiful pair, and had model-good looks.

            "Rei," Sei began with a grin creeping onto his face.  "Why is it that they lose interest in me after the first day and direct their attention towards you instead?"

            Beginning to smile, Rei responded, "Could it be because of my manly charm?"

            "NOT!" they both finished at the same time, laughing.

            As more and more girls began to flock around them, Rei's amusement began to wane.  "If you guys keep staring like that, I won't ever grow to respect you!" he told them all.

            "Okay, Rei Kashino!" they chorused.  How they had found out his brother's name was beyond Sei's knowledge, but he assumed that the girls would be back the next day, too.  It was the same in junior high until they got used to his "prettiness."

            "We've got to get to our lockers, now," Rei reminded his brother, still laughing at the girls.

            They went to their matching lockers that they had visited once before during orientation.  Already their books and binders were piled on the few shelves, and Rei's was already cluttered with gym clothes and papers.  "Last year's homework," he explained.  The two of them gathered their belongings needed for their first class and headed into their first day of school.

* * *

Rei stared out at the courts, as he had told Sei he would do.  They were a little trashed; basketball wasn't too big at this high school.  The team hadn't gotten to the semi-finals in years, and even longer since they'd won a championship.  But, Rei promised himself not to get involved in the basketball club.  Not only was it a team sport, but you had to come to practices regularly to play.  That wasn't the kind of ball that he enjoyed playing.

            "Hey," said a boy with short hair coming up to Rei.  He looked to be a first year, but one could never really tell.  "You play ball?"

            "Maybe," he said, misleadingly.  "Why?"

            "I'm looking for a person or two to get some money off of.  Wanna have a little one on one?  Bet, say, twenty bucks?"

            "Hey," Rei grinned.  "All right, dude."

            "It's Tatsuya."

            "All right, Tatsuya," he repeated.  "But get ready to get your ass whooped!"

            From out of no where, Tatsuya pulled a basketball.  Suddenly, almost as quickly the basketball, two large groups of girls appeared out of thin air.  One, Rei could see, was a first year that he'd remembered from his classes.  She seemed to be the ringleader of the clique, with her somewhat slutty clothing and short, trendy haircut.  The other leader was probably a year older, judging by her appearance.  She had flowing permed hair and plump, red lips.  So, they had an audience.  Rei wouldn't play easy, now.

            "You can start, man," Tatsuya offered.

            "Great," he said, taking the check.  "And it's Rei!" he called, dribbling right past his opponent and scoring an easy lay-up.

            "Oooohhh!" the two groups chorused.

            "Hey, Harumi," said one of the groupies on the side with the first year.  "That girl is staring at you!"

            Harumi glared across the court at this person.  She was no longer staring at Harumi, but her real target; Rei Kashino.  That was her man!  Harumi's!  "Just who does that girl think she is, trying to get close to my Rei?" she asked one of her friends.

            "That's Rika," one of them replied.  "She's a second year, and I've heard she really plays around."

            "Not with my Rei she doesn't," Harumi decided, glaring at Rika.

            At first, Rika didn't notice this, but soon every one of her groupies was staring at the evenly matched first year group.  They sat there like glaring as the game continued, losing sight of their real target.

            The target went on to bring his score up to twenty-one before Tatsuya could score twelve.  Grabbing his money, Rei fled to the gate saying, "Thanks for the money, Tatsuya!"

            "Wanna play with me against the boys from Shibuya tomorrow?" he called to Rei.

            "Sure!" he yelled back, hurrying to meet Sei at the gate.

* * *

Sei sat in the art room looking around.  There were many more people than at his junior high, so the club was also better funded.  There was excellent lighting and a window looking out on the basketball courts.  From there, he could see his brother looking around at the green cement.  He watched him pretend to shoot a ball from the three, then half court.  Then he took a victory bow to the invisible crowd that had been gathering.  Sei chuckled to himself, not finding anyone to chuckle with.

            Seeing the rest of the club members, Sei deduced that there were far more upperclassmen than there were freshman.  There was only one person that he recognized as Kurasawa.  He had read about him in the newspaper at the end of the school year for winning an art contest.  As he remembered, the article had said the painting was now displayed in a lobby in the school, or somewhere like that.  There was quite a bit of competition in this group, obviously.  Even with the large number of students, no one was sitting next to him.  The only empty chair in the room was next to him.  Maybe he wouldn't make any friends in high school either?

            The supervisor brought his attention back.  She was an older woman with graying hair pulled tightly in a bun.  She put on a pair of stylish glasses as she called the attention of the group.  "We have a good turnout, don't we," she said, gesturing to the impressive number of students gathered.  "We'll have lots of funds this year, I'll bet.  Let me take attendance, and we'll see about starting some art!"

            She walked over to the door and began to close it.  Just before it slid shut, a girl came rushing through.  She bowed an apology to the facilitator and hurried over to a seat; the only empty seat, which of course, was next to Sei.  She was breathing heavy, and Sei noted that she was very small and weak looking.  She looked down into her lap as the teacher talked, careful not to make eye contact with anyone.  She looked so shy, that Sei was almost feeling bad for her, though he was in no position to do that.  He probably looked just as pitiful, sitting without anyone beside him.

            "Thank you for joining us!" the teacher said sarcastically.  "Now the real party can begin, huh?"

            "I'm sorry," the girl said again in a small voice.  She didn't give any explanation as to why she was late, or ask how she could make it up to the teacher, she just apologized.  The instructor didn't seem to notice this lack of respect, and just kept right on taking roll.

            Sei kept watching her out of the corner of his eye.  Although she wasn't doing anything in particular, she held his interest.  She seemed like his mirror image, when he thought about it.  She looked quiet, shy, and friendless.  His heart beat quicker when he decided to introduce himself.  _I'm gonna do it, he thought.  __I really will!_

            "There are paints in the cupboards, and I'm sure that most of you have your own supplies," the instructor informed them.  "The modeling clay is on these shelves over here, but you'll have to take it down the hall to fire it."

            When she looked like she was finished, Sei chickened out.  Instead of talking, he went and got some clay to play with.  He softened the gray rock at his seat and began molding a can.  He didn't have any other project in mind because inspiration hadn't struck in quite awhile, but practicing making simple objects was a good practice to get into.  The girl had pulled out her sketch book and was making a light sketch of something unintelligible at the moment.  From the way she moved her hand in light strokes, he could tell that she was an artist.  _Just say something, man! He encouraged himself._

            Finally, he spoke up, "How long have you been drawing?"

            At first she didn't respond.  After a few moments of silence, she glanced up from her sketch pad at the person asking the question.  She found Sei staring right at her, making it obvious that he was directing it at her.  She mumbled something that Sei couldn't make out, and he pretended that he had heard.

            "I'm Kashino Sei," he said with a welcoming smile.  "What's your name?"

            A faint grin appeared on her face, and she looked up a little.  Finally, in a strong voice she replied, "Kira Aso!"

AUTHOR'S NOTES:  Hey, hey!  How was it?  Now, we've got a few more characters!  There's Sei, Rei, Kurasawa, Tatsuya, Harumi, Rika, Kyoko, and Kira.  Wow!  Guess what?  MARS 4 comes out tomorrow (I wrote this on the 23)!  Happy, happy day for everyone!  Let's celebrate by reading the volume three update to my other MARS fic.  You know, "Things Aren't the Way They Were Before"?  Well, review both of them.  I look forward to updating them both again, soon!


	3. Father's Boys

AUTHOR'S NOTES:  Did everyone order their copy of MARS 4?  I sure did!  I haven't read it yet because my bookstore has to special order them every time.  Doesn't that suck?  It won't get to me for another week or so.  Boo-hoo!  Scratch that; make it another month, because this time they "couldn't order it yet."  The first three pages of this is mainly dialogue because I was in a dialogue writing mood, I suppose.  There's so much dialogue after that, too, now that I mention it.   Oh, well.  Enjoy this anyway!  Be sure to review when you finish, because I'm not pleased with my current number (this is my favorite fic, too)!

What Wasn't Meant to Be by Sushifishie

Chapter Three: Father's Boys

"Really?  You beat him by that much?" Sei asked, surprised at his brother's achievement.  The two of them were walking home from school after their first day.  They had met at the gate, as planned, much to Rei's delight.  Unlike the last day of school the previous year, Sei had met his commitment.

            "Is it really that surprising?" Rei asked, making fake puppy-dog eyes.  "I'm hurt, Sei.  Hurt!"

            Sei grinned, "Art club wasn't as bad as I thought it might be, at first."

            "Oh," he replied, nodding.  "You met a girl," he stated.

            "I never said that!  Why would you think that!" he burst out, shocked.

            "Well, it's true, isn't it?"

            Sei hung his head, and then started laughing.  "Yeah, I guess it is!"

            "Hah!  I knew it!" he said, beaming in his success.  "Who is it?  Is she hot?"

            Sei debated telling his brother, and then decided for it.  He would find out sooner or later anyway.  "Her name is Kira, Kira Aso."

            "How do you spell that?" he asked, being the person that he is.

            Sei shook his head, amazed at his brother's apparent stupidity.  "It's ki-ra."

            "I see," he replied.  There was a pause, without any conversation before Rei chimed, "I met someone, too."

            "Is that so?" asked Sei.

            "Yeah, his name is Tatsuya."

            Unable to contain his laughter, Sei almost collapsed in a heap.  "_His name?" he asked through laughs.  "It's a guy?"_

            "You're a dork!" Rei said, lightly pushing his brother.  "Not like that!  He's my new basketball buddy.  We're going to be with the guys from Shibuya and make some easy cash.  I made twenty bucks today."

            "Oh," he said.  "Feel like getting a cone?" he asked as they approached an ice cream shop.

            "Always!" Sei said gleefully.  "You're treating, right?"

            "You don't have any cash on you, do you?" he asked skeptically.

            Sei shrugged, "Nope, sorry, man."

            Rei pushed open the door and met the eyes of a familiar face.  One of the girls from the basketball court was sitting at the front table, eating a little sundae.  It was the one with the long hair.  As he walked past, she glanced up slightly, and then did a double take when she saw Sei follow.  She appeared to be very interested in her ice cream, because she didn't look at them for a few minutes after that.

            The shop was a quaint little hut with green and white trim.  There was a glass counter under the register filled with cakes, cookies, and bars of all kinds.  The ice cream was in a case next to it.  The types varied from rocky road to triple chocolate fudge with almonds, and the place claimed to have 'more than forty varieties (try our new mocha caramel)!'

            They walked up to the counter, each ordering a single-scooped mocha caramel cone.  "This is tasty stuff," Rei commented, licking the edge of the dripping cone.

            "Yeah," Sei agreed.

            They sat there, licking their cones, and pointing and laughing at people who walked by.  What they weren't counting on, though, was someone walking up to them.  It was the girl from the courts, saying, "Hello, Rei," with a flirtatious smile.  "Who's your friend?  He's hot!"

            "He's my significant other," he replied with an almost straight face.  "No way, I'm just playing with you.  Who are you, anyway?"

            She wrapped both hands around his, and with a charming grin answered, "Rika."

            "How's that spel..." he began to say, before he was rudely hit over the head with a backpack.  "Ow!  Jeez, Sei!  What'd you do that for?"

            "You don't just go around asking girls how to spell their names, silly!" he shook his head in dismay.  "That's weird!"  The thing about Sei is that he isn't afraid to talk to people he knows in front of people he doesn't.  He just doesn't like to talk to people he doesn't know.  He's confusing in that way.

            Rei grinned at Sei, "Au contraire, my dear brother.  'Tis nobler to ask a girl the spelling than how her name came to be," he said, trying his hand at being 'poetic.'

            Rika giggled with a hand over her mouth.  She said, "Wow, a poet.  Can you do anything else?"

            "I can say a lot more than poetry," he said with a wink.  "And I don't mean nursery rhymes!"

            Sei rolled his eyes in annoyance, and turned his head from the annoying two.  He glanced around the shop to see if anyone else he knew was there.  He saw some kids from other schools that he'd seen around, but didn't know very well.  There was a few middle aged couples at the tables, and only one person he knew.  Kurasawa was sitting by himself at a small checkered table near the back.  He was reading a large art book and eating a chocolate cake.  If he'd known that Kurasawa at least knew his name, he might have talked to him, but seeing that he might not know that much, he decided against it.

            At the table, Rika and Rei were flirting heavily, and Sei needed something to break the atmosphere.  His luck came when he noticed a certain somebody walk by outside.  "Rei, that's her!" he said, loudly enough to free Rei from his rapture.  "It's Kira!" he said, pointing.

            "That's Kira?" he asked, apparently shocked.  "Well, I guess good taste can only go to every first child.  But, judging by the look on your face, I'd assume that you were thinking that she was in good taste, huh?  Poor, naive Sei.  We'll pick up some nice girls sometime, okay?"

            "Rei!" Sei exclaimed angrily.

            "I'm joking, just joking!" he raised his hands in defense.  "She's actually kind of cute, if you like that sort of girl."

            Sei stared at the figure that'd just passed the window.  Why did he feel so close to her already?  He'd only known her for a day.  Was it because she reminded him so much of himself?

* * *

Back at the house, later that evening, Sei sat next to Rei at their double desk.  Rei had on his headphones, and was trying desperately to do his homework, but was finding it very difficult.  "It's just too boring!" he cried out.  "I want to go riding!  Sitting here is so dull!"

            "Stop complaining," suggested Sei.  "Maybe if you'd just shut-up and try to do some real work, it wouldn't be so bad.  Have you ever thought of that?"

            "I don't want to, though!" Rei whined.  "I'm going to go see Kyoko and see if she'll take me to the circuit.  I'll see you later, okay?"

            "But Rei, Dad's coming home early tonight, remember," Sei reminded him unhappily.  "He's planning on a family dinner!"

            "Too bad for him!" he scoffed.  "I don't want to sit around and wait for that guy to get home when I could be out racing right now!"

            "But Rei...!"

            "Never mind, Sei!" Rei yelled.  "Just stay out of this, it doesn't concern you anyway.  Just butt out!" He stomped outside and slammed the door.

            "Dad's not going to be pleased with you, Rei," Sei whispered to the wall.  "Not pleased at all!"

            He looked back down at his work.  This had happened before; Rei walking out in a huff, Dad coming home especially early.  His dad had always gotten so mad at Rei that he lost privileges and had no allowance for a week, and things like that.  But this time was different.  This time, Rei was going out to the circuit.

            His dad was going to love that!  Sei's father hated the circuit.  He thought that races were demeaning and hazardous.  Sei couldn't completely disagree, and he couldn't say that he liked Rei's love for racing, but at least he supported him.  Their dad absolutely refused to see Rei race, since his old friend was killed in a motorcycling accident many years ago.  No matter how much Rei tried to convince him that motorcycles were getting safer and safer, his dad just wouldn't listen.

            Yet, Rei continued going to the races, competing in and supporting them, Sei sighed.  Their dad wasn't so bad as to keep his son from racing, but he had never once seen him race.  When Rei flipped over on his bike just a few months ago, his dad had gone ballistic.  He'd made Akitaka take him out of all events he'd planned, and the 4-hour endurance champion was out of the race track for almost three months.

            No one could hold Rei back, though, Sei smiled.  Even with the offer of millions, Rei wouldn't change his mind once he got his heart set.  Well, maybe millions, but not thousands, he afterthought.  He was one of the most confidant and cool people that Sei knew, and he admired his brother for racing, even though their dad expected Rei to become a business man.

            Sei stopped himself from reminiscing anymore and got to homework.  This English was nasty stuff!  He was only working for a half hour or so until his dad walked in.  For once, he was happy, with a goofy smile on his face.  Probably drunk, Sei decided, and his prediction was confirmed when the man walked over and embraced his son with a, "Hello, my fine boy!  How was your day?  Mine was lovely, thank you!"

            Sei watched in awe as the grown man turned pirouettes around the room, picking up the lampshade and starting into a waltz.  Almost afraid to say anything, Sei cautiously asked, "Dad, is there anything that you want to tell me?"

            "Let's just say, that pretty soon, we're going to be having many more family dinners!" he said with a grin.  "I've found myself a wonderful woman who wants to meet you both!"

            Giving him an all-knowing nod, Sei turned back to his work.  So, his dad wasn't drunk, he had gotten himself a new girlfriend.  It was only a year ago that he had started dating again, and Rei had despised every woman that came his way.  Even though the vow says, "Till death do us part," Rei had a belief that the marriage should extend beyond death, and that if you truly love someone, then there is no one else perfect for you in the world.

            Not really having an opinion, Sei tried his best to be kind to each of his dad's suitors.  After all, they might become his mom someday, and they weren't all bad.  He also felt that he had to be especially nice to them to make up for Rei's hatred and snide remarks.

            Seeming to be coming off the high, his dad stopped dancing.  In a slightly less amused tone, he asked the dreaded question, "Where's your brother?"

* * *

"Rei, Sei told me something about your dad calling a family meal or something tonight, is that true?" Kyoko asked watching Akitaka race around the track.

            Rei looked up at her and sighed, "Yeah.  The old man wanted us to eat together 'as a family' he said.  If we really were a family, then he wouldn't have to tell us to eat together 'as a family' would."

            "Do you really believe that?" she asked.

            "Of course I do!" Rei bellowed.  "That guy has done nothing for Sei but cause him grief, and he's done even less for me.   It'd be better off if it were just me and Sei, no Dad at all."

            "Would that really work?  I mean, could you live without him?  He does give you food and money and everything."

            "It would work without him."

            Rei went into the back room to change into his racing suit.  Putting on the tight suit, he thought about what Kyoko had said.  Sure, the old guy gave them money, but as a wise person once said, "money doesn't buy happiness."  The thing that really brings happiness is to have someone that understands you completely, to find your soul mate.  To live with the person that never judges and can always read you.  It's nice to have lots a people who you can call friends, but to not have one special confidante can make a person lonely easily.  So, if Sei wanted to continue to live with their father, then Rei would stick it out with him.  After all, he couldn't leave his soul mate, could he?

            "Rei!" Kyoko called into the room from outside.  "There's someone here to see you, so hurry up, okay?"

            "Coming," he replied, grabbing his helmet off the shelf.

            He strolled out wearing a fake smile, trying to cheer himself up.  Rei wasn't the kind of person to let his sad emotions show through.  He was supposed to be happy, happy Rei Kashino.  But, even Rei couldn't keep up a fake smile when the next sight befell his eyes.  It was his father.

            "Rei, come home with me," he said sternly.  "It's time for dinner, and we're eating it as a family today."

            "At least let me ride a couple laps first," he pleaded.  "It would be pointless to come here and not do something during this time!"

            "Well," his dad said with an offhand smile.  "I guess this was a worthless trip then.  You're coming with me now," he finished, grabbing his son's shoulder.

            "Kyoko!" Rei asked for help.  
            She made a face that told him, "I'm sorry, but I can't do anything in this kind of a situation!" and Rei was dragged off.

            When they got to the car, Rei burst out, "Dad, why the hell did you do something like that?  You just made a fool of me in front of my friends!"

            "You broke the rules Rei.  You know when it's time for a family dinner that it's your job to be at home and ready to go out.  Your brother was all ready and doing his homework when I got in and I find you at the race track!  Do you realize how that makes me feel?  It makes it seem like I only have one son!"

            "Well," Rei began, starting to lose his nerve.  "Maybe you do only have one son!"

            "What's that supposed to mean, boy?  Are you trying to say that you're disowning me?"

            "What if I am?"

            "In that case, I'd cut off all ties to you and leave you stranded in the middle of this road," he said, gesturing to the busy highway that they were driving home on.  
            Rei thought over his options, and decided that even if he were stupid enough to get out of the car, that would mean abandoning Sei to deal with this monster of a father, so he decided, "Just take me home."

            His father nodded, looking intently on the road with tremendous concentration.   Soon, they were pulling into the parking lot outside their apartment complex.  Sei was sitting on the steps leading to the main entrance, apparently waiting for their arrival.  He dashed to the car and hopped in the backseat.

            "Where are we going to eat at?" he asked, breaking the silence you could cut with a knife.

            "I don't feel like eating anymore," Rei said with a grumpy face.

            "We're going to the campus dinner theatre," their dad said, throwing a stern look in Rei's direction.

            Rei stared at his father, getting more disgusted by the minute.  It was the last straw when his dad said, "We're going to meet my date there."

            "Let me out, now!" Rei demanded.  "I do not want to deal with this today, or any day for that matter.  You should still be loyal to Mom!  It's like you're disrespecting her!"

            Slapping Rei across the cheek his dad shouted, "Don't talk to me like that, boy!  Get out of my car!"

            Rei got out of the slowing car and slammed the door.  What an idiot that man could be!  Not only was he disrespecting his wife, but his children, too!  He turned, ready to walk home, and ran into someone he didn't expect to see.  "Sei, why didn't you go with Dad?"

            "I didn't want to leave you alone," he said in a small voice.  "Where are you going to go now, Rei?"

            He pondered this for a moment before finally replying, "I guess I'm going back to the apartment.  I've got to get my stuff out of there sometime."

            "You're really moving out?" Sei gasped.

            "Yes."  After looking at Sei's face, he added the question his brother was searching for, "Do you want to come with me?"

            "Definitely!" Sei chirped, almost happily now.  "Where do you figure we'll be living?"

            "To be perfectly honest with you, Sei, I've been thinking about this for some time now.  I figure that we can use some of my race money to rent an apartment and eat ramen for a while.  We can get a single with futons for a pretty good deal!  As for later expenses, we can always get part time jobs; it's really not that hard.  You can win an art contest or two, and that'll rake in quite a lot, too."

            "Wow, you've really thought this out, haven't you?"

            Rei just smiled at him and said, "It's my dream."

* * *

Rei couldn't believe his luck.  Not only had his dad let he and Sei move out of the house, he let them rent an apartment a mile away, paying the moving expenses and everything.  Now, looking at their new apartment, Rei smiled.  Sure, the ceiling was caving a little bit in the corners and the wall had a little bit of water damage, but it was home.  The single room was meant for one person, but they could make it work.  They just needed floor mats and blankets to lie on.

            "So, you're in the art club, then?" Tatsuya grunted at the twin who was helping him carry a bookcase, one of the Kashino brothers' few possessions.  "That's pretty cool.  Have you won any awards or anything, yet?"

            "Naw," Sei grinned, liking his brother's new friend.  Although he looked like a mean jock, he was actually pretty nice to be associating with a person such as himself.  "I'm not that great."

            "What're you talking about?" Rei exclaimed with an expression of disbelief.  "You were one of the best artists in our junior high.  You were the best after that one kid transferred.  What was his name?"

            "Dallas," Sei replied, blushing slightly.

            "Didn't he change schools because you beat him in that one school mural contest -- the one where the winner got to paint a mural on the garage?"

            "Yeah, he only made it to semi-finals," Sei grinned with pride.  "But I only got second place.  Kurasawa participated, even though he came from a different school, and won it."

            "You could've kicked his butt if..." Rei stopped to hear the sounds of a fight going on down the hall.  There was a distinct noise that signified a punch, and a very obvious one that meant a blow to the head.  "Stay back for a minute," Rei told them, cautiously opening the door.

            In front of him lay a man coughing up a mass of blood.  Someone from across the hall was already calling an ambulance, and a woman nearby the man was crying.  Apparently the assailant had already fled the scene, because he was nowhere to be found.  Asking about the fight seemed like a bad choice, so he kept quiet.

            Sei peeked over Rei's shoulder to see what was going on, and almost fainted at the sight of the wounded man.  Instead, he ran back inside and took a recently unpacked blanket from a box.  Coming back in the hall, he wrapped around the choking man, who was beginning to stop coughing and looking weaker and weaker.  Approaching sirens told them that help was coming, and they watched as the man was carted off to the hospital.  Everything happened so quickly, and Sei barely remembered to take the blanket back when the man was carried away.

            "That was freaky," Tatsuya said, closing the door as they went back in the room.

            Sei was breathing heavily, and looked close to tears.  The only reason he managed to hold himself together was because they had a guest.  Had it been only Rei, he would have let it all out.  He did show a little emotion when he said, "This place is too sketchy, Rei.  It's too sketchy."

            Rei gave him a pitying look for a moment before replying, "It's the best we could get for so cheap.  If we wanted to live in a good neighborhood, we should have born with rich, healthy parents who cared about us.  At least this is better than being with Dad, right?"

            "I'm not so sure about that," Sei admitted.  "But I'll stay with it.  I'm no quitter!"

            "That's the spirit!" Tatsuya encouraged, not really knowing what they were talking about in the first place.  "Sorry, guys, but I've got to run.  My sister told me to pick her up from soccer practice on my way home, and it's about time for me to go."

            "That's all right," Sei said.  "Thanks for your help.  We've got to go, too."  When Tatsuya gave him a questioning look, he only told him, "Appointment."

            "I see," he nodded.  "Well then, catch you later!"  He sidestepped the blood stains as he walked out of the apartment complex and down the sidewalk.

            "He's pretty cool," Sei commented, once Tatsuya was out of hearing range.

            "I know," Rei replied.  

            "It's about time we leave, though, isn't it?" Sei asked.

            "Aw, man!  Do we have to go to counseling?  It's not like Dad's making us go anymore!"

            "Why is it that you don't like counseling, Rei?"

            "I dunno.  I guess I just don't like telling someone I don't know all of my secrets.  It's kind of creepy, don't you think?"

            "I like it.  It's like having a diary that talks back.  Just come to this session, Rei, please?" he begged.

            "Fine," he replied and with a slam of the locked door, the Kashino twins made their way to the doctor's office from their new home.

AUTHOR'S NOTES:  Ahh!  That was too short!  Oh, well.  Did everyone like it anyway?  Even after I finished writing this (it's taken about a week) I still haven't gotten MARS 4!  Isn't that terrible?  The store said they'd call me, but that they couldn't order it yet!  Ugh!  I'm angry with them, but happy because I finished writing this.  Sorry it took awhile to update, but I've had some things going on recently, and I'm getting kind of stressed out.  This fic is the least of my worries!

            That was funny!  I stopped there for a second to get the phone.  It was the store calling to say that the book is in! HAHA!  I'm off to get it now, but a couple more notes before that.  This chapter had A LOT of dialogue, and I'm sorry.  This one was more about people's relationships with each other than anything else.  Don't worry; I'll get back to Kira soon!  I was going to say one other thing, but I've forgotten what that was! ^_^;;  Just don't complain in your reviews, okay?  I'm not quite sure where this story is going (I know only the next chapter or two).  Look forward to more of my (un)predictable chapters!


	4. Brother's Keeper

AUTHOR'S NOTES:  Ack!  I just read the fourth book, and everything in this fic is so wrong.  But now, there're no spoilers, right?  I'm going to use books 1-3 for this fic, and enter only the characters in those books.  I know that the stuff will be separate from the real story, but it's more fun this way, right?  Even so, this is an alternate universe fic; it can't be wrong, or can it?  Wanna hear something that is wrong?  My favorite pairing is Tatsuya and Kira!  *Dodges stones and bullets, not to mention threat notes and bombs*  I'm sorry!  I'm PROBABLY not going to make this Tatsuya/Kira, but that's my favorite.  Sei/Kira isn't too bad either, but everyone wants Rei/Kira.  So it could be that, too.  I won't be a conformist!  I'll do what I wish (because I don't really know where this fic is going)!  What do you guys think?

What Wasn't Meant to Be by Sushifishie

Chapter Four: Brother's Keeper

"So, you really moved out?" Kira asked Sei.  They were sitting at a table in the science lab, sketching a particularly interesting experiment.  There were flowers in glass cases growing next to different varieties of rotting fruit.  It didn't smell very good, but the flowers were a beautiful subject.

            "Of course," he replied with a grin.  "Rei was really happy about it, too.  He wanted to get out of that apartment as soon as possible.  The only reason that he was staying was because I was there with him.  It's not too bad living on our own, though."

            Kira smiled a little before saying, "You do the cooking, right?"

            "Naw," he said shaking his head.  "We don't really cook, mostly just microwaving and eating out.  I did make some cup ramen last night!"

            Giggling a little, Kira went back to her sketch.  It looked very different from Sei's point of view because they sat on different sides of the flower tank.  Not only was the lighting different, but also the perspective of where shadows and separate petals fell.  They were going to compare afterwards and discuss the properties of shadowing and smearing.  Coming from different schools, they each had different art experience and had fun sharing knowledge with each other.

            Sei offhandedly glanced at his watch and then let out a small gasp.  "Sorry," he said.  "I've got to go, at least to tell Rei that I'm going to stay late to finish this.  The flowers will have been shifted by tomorrow, don't you think?"

            "Probably," she agreed.

            "I'll come right back," he promised her, dashing out of the room.  He fled down the staircase and out into the front lawn.  Almost colliding with Tatsuya, he stopped himself just in time.  He looked around for his brother and couldn't find him.

            "If it's Rei you're looking for," Tatsuya began, "He left already with some 'Rika' girl.  I think they were going to a karaoke."

            Sei nodded his head in thanks and slumped back to the lab where Kira was packing up her things.  Seeing this, Sei asked, "Are you leaving me behind, too?"

            She looked at him in puzzlement for a moment before replying, "I've got to make dinner tonight, so I'm leaving now."

            Sei stared at her for a moment before asking, "Well, can we walk together, at least part of the way?"

            Kira smiled and bobbed her head, "Sure!"

            They went to their lockers and got their books before proceeding out of the school.  Once they were outside of the gate, conversation struck up again.  "So," Kira began.  "How exactly is it that you came to live on your own?"

            "Do you want the basic gist, or the long and complicated version?"

            "Umm, somewhere in between."

            Sei took a deep breath before beginning his tale, "Dad and Rei have never gotten along well at all.  Actually, they kind of hate each other.  Anyway, I think basically that it's just been rolling up into one big ball of hatred, and it's finally just burst.  Rei's always done stuff that makes Dad mad.  Once he threw a mud pie on my dad's suit and boy did he get it for that!"  Kira let out a little giggle and then gestured for him to move on.

            "Well, they've gotten more vicious in the past few months, ever since Rei got injured in the accident."

            "Accident?" Kira asked alarmed.

            Sei looked down and shook his head.  "He flipped over on his bike and broke his collarbone.  Dad's never been one to like racing, I mean, he practically forbade Rei from riding in the first place, but after that accident, he didn't want Rei to ever ride again!  In the hospital, he rested and eventually got into his normal patterns again, save the motorcycles.  But then our friend Kyoko, a motorcyclist, got married to a guy named Akitaka, who also is a biker."  Sei paused to take a breath and looked up at Kira.  Her attention was focused completely on him, and was obviously finding his speech incredibly interesting.  But, then, who wouldn't?

            "He met Dad one time when Kyoko and him visited our apartment, and he hated the guy.  He didn't even try to hide it from me or Rei, just open hatred.  This encouraged Rei to take a stand against Dad, or something, because he started secretly going back to the racetrack with Akitaka.  I covered for him and everything because I know how much he loves the circuit, but what could I say when the guy asked where my brother was, and that if I didn't tell him, he was calling the police?  So, Rei got in trouble with Dad then, too.

            "There were lots of other little instances where they pushed each other's buttons, but the most recent one was the worst.  Dad told us one night that we would be having a family dinner that evening.  In the afternoon, Rei and I were doing our homework, and he just had an outburst of," Sei tried to think of the write word for it, "something because he just got up and went to the race track.  I tried to warn him about Dad, I really did!  But he still left.  So then Dad comes home, asking where Rei went, and of course I had to tell him.  He goes there and yanks Rei into the car and forces him to come with us to a restaurant where we were to meet his new girlfriend."

            "Wait a minute," Kira held her hand in a stop position.  "He was committing adultery?"

            "Not really," Sei answered.  "Only in Rei's mind.  My mom's dead now."  Kira looked at him with the classic pitying stare and he added, "It's alright.  It was a long time ago and I'm over it now."  When she didn't stop with the weird face he said, "Just let me finish my story!"

            "Rei yelled at Dad for being disrespectful to Mom, and my dad got really mad.  He told Rei to get out of the car, and I didn't know what to do, so I went with him.  Then, there we were, standing in the middle of traffic.  Rei and I talked about moving out, and I talked to Dad, and that's how things were arranged."

            "THAT wasn't the complicated version?" she asked when she knew that Sei was finished.

            "We didn't have time for the complicated version," he said, gesturing at Kira's approaching apartment complex.  "I could have cited at least a dozen examples of Rei versus Dad moments."

            "Good thing you didn't, then," she agreed.  "Thanks for walking me home.  See you tomorrow," she smiled as she went inside.

            Sei grinned as he walked home.  He had been angry at Rei for leaving him behind, he still was a little bit, but at least something good had come out of it.  Now he had gotten a chance to talk to Kira for a little bit longer!  But, he would still raise some hell when he got home, just for kicks!  This is going to be fun, he thought, opening the door to his own apartment.

            "Rei!" he yelled to his hunched brother.  "You left me at school, you know?"

            A lipsticked Rei glanced up from his project and glared at his twin.  He turned to Rika and said, "Sorry, but you've got to go now.  The little brother wants a piece of me, too."

            "Can I have a piece of you to take with me?" she asked, stealing one more kiss from Rei.  She grabbed her jacket off of Rei's futon and hustled out the door.  She sneered at Sei on the way out, and blew a kiss to his twin before finally departing the scene.

            Once she had gone a distance away from the building, Rei let out a yell, "You idiot!  I was just getting to the good part until you walked in.  Jeez, didn't you see the 'do not disturb' note I stuck under the door?"

            "What note?" Sei asked, puzzled and angry at the same time.

            "It's right..." Rei glanced around outside the door, looking for the small slip of a paper that he had written on just moments before.  Not finding it, he added, "Well, you should knock at least before you come in, okay?"

            "Why should I knock?  It's my place too, Rei!  I'm paying half the rent here, too!  Besides, you left me at school; the least you can do is let me enter my own home!"

            "Maybe we shouldn't walk home together then!" Rei said, solving the problem so obviously.  "It's not my fault that you can't get a girl to take here!  You're just jealous of me and Rika!"

            "No," Sei let out an exasperated laugh.  "I'm really not.  I just hate how irresponsible you're being!"

            "Irresponsible?  I'm irresponsible?" Rei roared.  "You know what?  I'm tired of this.  See you later," he said, slamming the door as he left the apartment.

            Sei stared at the window for a minute, watching Rei's slowly fading figure.  After a few moments, he collapsed on his pillow and started crying.  Knowing what to do with these emotions, Sei wiped off his eyes.  Opening his bag, he dug out an art pencil and his sketch pad.

            He began to sketch as he continued to think about his brother.  It wasn't that he was weak; he just hated to be in a fight with Rei!  There were few times when the two got angry enough with each other to fight, and it was usually over something bigger than a silly mistake.  Normally, it would be a major clash of opinions, like when Rei threw a stone and killed a duck.  But not this time; this time, it was just a silly misunderstanding.  The psychologist had taught Sei some things at his appointments.  He'd taught about the five step process and a few other things.  But the thing that applied was the part about anger.  If a person can get angry about something so silly, then the anger probably goes deeper than surface would show.  To know that the anger goes deeper hurt Sei's soul.  It made him feel unwanted.

            Sei sighed and looked down at his drawing.  A surprising sight met his eyes.  Without even realizing it, he had been sketching Kira.

* * *

"Tell me what happened," the doctor prodded at the boy sitting in his dark blue office.  "Just in this most recent argument, what kinds of things did you do and say?"

            Rei groaned, still furious at his stupid brother.  "Basically, Sei walked in on me and a girl making out and got her to leave.  Then he tells me off for leaving him at school.  Hello!  It's not MY problem that my dorky brother can't get a girlfriend, the goody-two-shoes!  He still wishes that he were living with Dad!"

            "Tell me Rei," the doctor imputed, "did you use the five steps in this conflict?"

            Rolling his eyes, Rei admitted, "No."

            "Well, subconsciously, I think you will be happy to find out, you are using it right now!  Isn't the first step to calm down?  I don't think you're quite done with step one yet, so let's continue with this.  What makes you so angry with Sei?"

            "I don't know," Rei said, slowly releasing his anger, letting the doctor work his magic.  "I guess I feel like his mother or something.  I mean, he always has come to me with his problems, and I've only started to notice it or something.  With high school starting and everything, he's got to learn to grow up and stop leaning on me for support.  Making new friends would do him some good!"

            "Do you really believe that he doesn't have any friends besides you?"

            Rei thought for a moment.  "I guess that isn't entirely true.  He does talk about this Kira Aso person often enough.  I think he considers her a friend now."

            "Well, then," the doctor proved, "you seemed to have contradicted yourself, Kashino.  I'm happy to have you back to sanity.  Now, would you like to continue the process and work things out with your brother?"

            "Yes."

            "Then please, proceed," noticing that Rei didn't say anything, the doctor prompted him.  "How do you think Sei felt to walk in on the two of you?"

            Pondering this for awhile, the best answer that Rei could come up with was, "Probably kind of angry or something?"  After thinking for another minute, he remembered something else.  "He definitely WAS angry.  He was angry that I left him at school after I promised to walk home with him."

             "You seem to have done the second step," the doctor pointed out.  "The only thing left to do is to talk to your brother.  Hopefully, he'll have gone through this process also.  Please, tell me how this turns out when you stop in next."

            "Sure," Rei agreed, walking out of the office.  Now he'd just have to talk to his brother in the dreaded third step.  Oh, well, it had to be done sometime.

* * *

A few hours later, Rei had finally gotten up the courage to speak to his brother again.  A fight wasn't something that they normally did, and it would have to be solved as soon as possible.  Oh how that five step technique worked!  Far from being angry, Rei actually wanted to make up with his brother, even to give him a big hug!

            He opened the apartment door to the familiar cracking ceiling and leaning walls.  Sei was laying on his futon, staring at the ceiling.  Pondering something, he hardly looked up when Rei came in.  He didn't even flinch until Rei called out his name.

            "Oh, Rei!" he nodded in acknowledgment.  "Just the person I wanted to see.  Kira and I have been working on sketching flowers a lot recently.  It all started with that one science project the seniors were doing with the rotting fruit, remember that one?  Anyway, we found that they're very interesting subjects to work with.  I was getting kind of lonely and don't want to spend the rest of the evening by myself, so do you want to come with me to botanical gardens?"

            Rei stared at his brother in awe.  He had come here to apologize, all ready to feel sympathetic to his brother who was in obvious pain, and he was met with this?  His brother wasn't in pain; actually, he seemed rather happy, and uncaring about the earlier argument.  What a jerk!

            "No, Sei," he said, trying to control his temper, which was flaring to a peak.  "Just no."

            "Why not Rei?" he whined.  "I'm bored and there's no one else to go with me, please!"

            "Sei!  Don't be such a baby!  I'm not your freaking mother!  I'm getting sick of the way I've had to baby you so much recently.  We're in high school already, so just grow up!  I'm not taking you to the gardens so you can color with your crayons, and I'm not going to by you a freaking lollypop!  Just lay off, jeez!"

            Sei stared at his twin for a moment before grabbing his bag and dashing out the door.  Why was Rei acting like that?  Why?  All he had done was try to act like everything was normal.  It was such a petty argument; surely it didn't have to be fussed over, right?  Sei heard the slam of the door echo as he dashed down the hallway.  Strangely enough, he wasn't that sad.  Now that he stopped to think about it, he wasn't even that angry.  He wasn't feeling any particular emotion more than another and all he knew was that he had to stay away from Rei for a little while.  It was the only thing that could help him.

            Suddenly, he no longer felt like sketching.  Although he brought his notepad with him for that very reason, his inspiration was gone.  There was one place to spark up that imagination again, though.  That place was the art museum.

            In the middle of no where, it stood as a shining beacon, drawing spectators in for a look.  Sei loved the calming presence the building held.  It was almost a charismatic feeling, one filled with happy thoughts.  If there was any place that could calm someone down, or help them find themselves, the art museum was the place.

            He walked down a few halls filled with paintings, sculptures, and other works of art.  Stopping to look at the new displays, he lost himself in the art.  He was looking at a particularly interesting painting, a bland toned one with some specks of color in the lower right hand corner when a presence appeared beside him.  Not noticing it, he continued to look.

            The painting was an interesting shade of pinkish peach, not quite skin toned.  It was completely flat except for some rough strokes in the upper right, where the color was.  On the rough strokes were a few gold dots that stood out like a light house at night.  There were six of them, and Sei was having trouble understanding what the painting meant.

            "Sixth Vertex," the person next to Sei read aloud from the card next to the painting.  "The artist left a small explanation with it.  They said, 'Relationships aren't always in lines.  They can be in triangles, like when two people are in love with the same person.  They can be in squares, where two people love two people who love each other.  But even more exasperating than that are the relationships with a sixth vertex, the sixth point on the polygon and the last person in the relationship."

            "That's pretty interesting," Sei said, turning around to fully look at the dictator.

            Kira nodded in agreement, "Yeah, but I don't really get the colors.  Oh, well!  To each his own, I guess!"

            "When I have art here, I'll explain myself better," Sei decided.   "You know, in my summery."

            "Isn't that a bit cocky, to just assume that you're going to get art here?  It has to be a pretty inspirational piece to make it to a museum, Sei.  What kind of a piece would you do to get in here?"

            Sei thought for a minute, and then decided, "I've always wanted to do a famous sculpture, one that will be known in the coming centuries.  It wouldn't be of a person or anything; I'd make it of a tree or some other living thing besides a human.  You know, kind of an environmentalist statue.  That suits me well, don't you think?"

            "Definitely," Kira nodded.  "Personally, I've always wanted to paint my retirement home.  No, I don't already have a retirement house; I just imagined one a few years ago.  I've always wanted to live at the edge of a marsh.  I want a house on stilts above the murky waters, just a tiny one, but big enough that the front stoop opens out onto the marsh and the back porch looks out over the lake.  I can just imagine the dock leading up to my door, one with a kind of broken wooden frame.  Not just the door is broken, though.  The whole house looks like it's falling apart, but it's nothing that inconveniences me.  It just gives the place a rustic charm.

            "Sorry," she said, looking up at her listener, finally stopping her long speech.  "I guess I kind of went on for awhile there, huh?"

            "That sounds like a wonderful place to live," Sei encouraged.  "I really hope that you'll paint that picture someday, later though, when you get really good.  Not that you're bad now, but the reflections on the water will be very hard to pull off."

            "I know, and I was thinking the same thing that you were.  Do you think that the instructor will help me figure it out?"

            "I don't know," Sei admitted.  "But it's worth a shot anyway, isn't it?"

            "Yeah," she agreed, letting her mind drift.

            Sei let his go, too.  Looking at Kira, he'd remembered the sketch he'd done of her earlier.  "Have you ever done a portrait?" he wondered.

            Kira stopped to think.  She'd sketched people before, but no picture had ever become a painting.  People didn't tend to be her specialty.  Like Sei, she enjoyed different subjects than people.  "No," she replied finally.  "I really haven't painted a portrait yet. How about you, have you done one?"

            Sei remembered that time when he'd tried so hard.  The painting was to be of his mother as a gift to his brother, but he'd failed.  When he went to give her eyes life, she bled black ink all the way down her face, and down her neck where it left the canvas.  Looking up at Kira, with an honest gaze, he replied, "No, I haven't done one yet."        

            "I personally have always been looking for someone to paint.  You know, someone so perfect that they deserve all that effort to portray.  I've always wanted to meet that person, with perfect body structure and a beautiful face."

            Thinking about this for a moment, Sei asked, "Have you really done that?  No offense, but that sounds kind of vain, to be looking to paint only the most beautiful."

            "But artists have always painted beautiful people.  Have you ever taken an art history course?  My dad took me to one a very long time ago.  We learned the different styles used in different time periods, and the one I remember the most was in the American colonies.  They used to paint people without any depth, so a person ten feet behind you seemed like they were at your side.  They didn't have any shadows or anything either, but it's the portrait that I want to talk about.  No matter how ugly or how beautiful people were, the artist always improved.  You know how different some displays of Abraham Lincoln are from others?  That shows that artists embellished their paintings."

            "Well, I know that," Sei said.  "But why do you have to start out with someone beautiful?"

            Kira looked at him for a second, then replied, "So that I won't have to embellish.  I want to show it like it is, to capture the person's inner workings on a canvas."

            "Hearing you talk about that, I want to meet that person, too," Sei said, finally agreeing with Kira.

            "I think you've already met them," she said with an awkward smile.  When Sei gave her a look of puzzlement, she went on.  "Sei, would you please let me paint you?"

AUTHOR'S NOTES:  Yippy!!  Go Sei and Kira!!  Don't worry everyone, in the next chapter Rei gets a chance to meet his brother's current interest.  Won't that be exciting? (I know it's what you all are waiting for.)  This chapter was not as long as I had hoped, but it's still a decent length.  For those who care, I ordered book 5 and that should come to me sometime next week.  Hopefully I'll have the next chapter posted then for your enjoyment.  I thank my loyal fans at this moment, currently few in numbers.  C'mon the rest of you!  This is a good fic (I've been told)!  I've been rambling long enough, just barely reaching my goal length for this chapter (that's right, I make a goal length).  So I'll see you later, 'kay?  Look for chapter five, okay (wow, chapter five already)!


	5. Mirror Image

AUTHOR'S NOTES:  C'mon you reviewers!  Thanks to my loyal reviewers for the great comments on every chapter (you guys know who you are, thanks ^_^), but the rest of you have really got to get on it.  The reason I'm writing this fic is for you; so if you don't appreciate it, I'll stop posting.  But I'm warning you, it starts heating up at chapter seven, and whoo is it cool!  I can't wait to get there, but I'm holding the next chapter hostage until I get twenty-five reviews.  That's not too much to ask, being that this is the only chapter fic for MARS besides my other one (as of when I wrote this).  You can sign in under different names, I don't mind if it's the same person (just don't tell me, because that would make me feel pitiful).  Make me continue, it's your job as the reviewer.

CONTEST RULES:  I mentioned the contest in my summery (I hope . . . if I remembered to change it I did), so here are the rules.  They're just a few simple guidelines that you've got to follow if I'll accept your opinion (though I think I know which pairing will win).

You must state the first character's name then a slash then the next character's name of your pairing. You must tell why this is a good pairing and give an example from one of the MARS books (please stick to volumes one through five—that's what I've read). The results of this contest will be posted in the November 11 update (I think there will be one on this date) and although you can still give your opinion after this time, it will be null and void to this contest. If I decide not to use the winning pair in this fic, you may state your disapproval, but no flaming.  I worked very hard on this, and I think that reviewers should be polite. 

Okay, those are the rules, so get cracking!  The winning pair should be honored and thankful for all of your support!  BTW:  I'm going to review this chapter myself, just to add something to an unlikely pair.  Now read my fic.

What Wasn't Meant To Be by Sushifishie

Chapter Five: Mirror Image

"No," Kira groaned at when Sei repositioned his hand for the thirteenth time.  "Not like that, that's not how you had it yesterday!  That was my favorite pose!"  She walked over to where he was sitting in the chair.  The two were alone in the art room after school hours and were of a very few left in the school.  Grabbing his hand, she wrenched it into the right position, giving him a look of triumph once she was finished.  "That's better."

            Sei shrugged and stayed in the pose.  He knew how hard it was to draw someone who was moving anything more than their mouth, because even with that slight of a movement it was very difficult.  "I'm sure it is.  You know what happened yesterday?"

            Glancing at him briefly, she continued to make light markings on her sketch pad.  Finally, she responded with a short, "What?" too immersed in concentration to say anything more.  Her tongue was hanging out of her mouth and she was biting on it as she sketched.

            Biting his lip to keep from laughing, he tried his best not too shift too much.  "Yesterday, Rei pumped the volume on our speakers up really loud, and the guy next door to us turned his up, too.  Then someone across the hall did, and eventually they were in a contest to see who had the best speaker system.  Rei didn't win, obviously, and it ended up in a fistfight.  Not with Rei involved though, it was some guys from down the hall."

            "Oh," she replied shortly.  After a moment, she sighed and looked up at last.  "Sorry, I'm not good company, am I?  This is just such a great pose that I'm really trying my best."

            "It's all right," Sei smiled.  "I know how that is.  Once we make it into some fancy art school, we can take all the time we want to intricately sketch the scenery."  Kira was giving him a funny look, and he wondered why.  Returning her look, she finally spoke up.

            "No college for me," she told him with a smile.  After receiving a shocked look from Sei, she explained further.  "I don't have a Dad anymore.  We just can't afford anything that extravagant."

            Sei looked at his feet.  It wasn't that his family was particularly wealthy; they just weren't that badly off.  Sure, their living situation wasn't that pleasant, but their dad's sure was.  His dad would even be paying for a college that Rei didn't want to attend, which was a waste of money in his mind.  But, then, things aren't ever fair.  "So, if you can't go to college, what kind of career do you plan on getting into?" Sei ventured.

            "Probably I'll end up being a nun," she said with a laugh.  "Look at me now, all I have is my art and my brains, neither of which are useful without a college degree.  I might as well be a hermit!"

            Sei laughed and shook his head, "You know that isn't true, Kira!"

            "Yeah, right," she giggled.  "Maybe I'll become a monk and shave my head!"

            Completely out of his pose now, Sei was almost rolling on the floor at the thought of a hairless male Kira.  Not only was it unpleasant, but it didn't suit her at all!  Finally picking himself up, he turned to her and said, "I don't think I can sit still anymore.  When do you think I'll stop posing?"

            "I can start it after you pose tomorrow," she said.  "I'm starting the painting tomorrow, no matter what, so you better not pull anything!"

            Holding his hands up in a defensive position, he said, "All right already, all right!  I won't do anything!"

            Looking satisfied, Kira slinked out of the room.  "See you tomorrow," she called over her shoulder.  Sei wondered when she had packed up and figured that it had been while he was laughing.  She was a smart one.

            "Bye, bye!" he hollered in a hyper and childish manner, still giddy about bald Kira.  He stepped out of the school property a few minutes later, hurrying home for a change.  It hadn't been a long day, but he was very tired.  After making his way home, he fell asleep, exhausted on the couch.

* * *

The sun went down over the city and moon rose, but still Sei slept.  The bullfrogs croaked and crickets chirped in a nearby marshy area, soon silenced by the chirping birds pondering the arrival of the dawn.  At the first sunlight, they hurried out to find some food for their babies.  In the apartment, Rei awoke to the alarm clock going off, surprised to find that Sei was still asleep.

            Rei walked over to his sleeping brother and shook his shoulder violently.  Sei rolled his head a bit, but didn't wake.  After shaking again with the same results, Rei gave his brother a swift kick in the rear.

            Groaning in pain and rubbing his behind, Sei got up.  With a moan, he asked, "What'd you do that for?"

            "It's time for school dork-butt," Rei rolled his eyes.  "Why aren't you getting up?"

            Sei rested his head on his pillow.  It was throbbing and he felt nauseous.  "I just feel bad."

            Suddenly looking concerned, Rei put his forehead to Sei's.  "Wow, you're burning up.  Maybe you should stay home today, huh?"

            "No, way," Sei said.  "Kira promised that she'd start the painting today no matter what, but I've still got to pose for one more session.  How am I supposed to keep that?"

            Rei winked, "Big brother will take care of that for you, little Sei.  Now get some sleep.  I'm off!"  he said, dashing out of the apartment.  As he closed the door, he heard his brother's quiet voice thank him.  He nodded his head and left the apartment complex.

            Rei trudged to school unwillingly.  It would be better to stay at home everyday, or at least go back to Los Angeles to race.  Although this was the path he had chosen, it wasn't the path that he wanted.  If only he hadn't promised to go to high school with Sei!  Then, he could be racing around the circuit right at this moment with his uncle beaming at his favorite nephew.  School was the last thing that he wanted to be doing right now.

            He looked at a crack in the sidewalk.  That sidewalk was a lot like his ideal life—people had walked all over it and weeds were beginning to poke through.  There was even a crack, like his burst bubble—that symbolized his life right now.  Not only was it routine, it wasn't doing any good to him.  He slept at school, made money by playing basketball, and lived in a tiny apartment with his brother.  This was definitely a crack in the ideal.

            Rei drifted from his thoughts at the sound of his name.  Turning to look at the unfamiliar voice's speaker, his eyes fell upon his brother's friend Kira Aso.  He turned back around, uninterested, but slowed down enough that she could catch up to him.  She soon did and gave him a frown.

            "Good morning," she said with a slight haughtiness in her voice.  Normally, she wouldn't be doing this (talking to a person that she didn't know and addressing them before she was spoken to), but it was for Sei.  "Where's your brother?  He's supposed to pose for me today."

            Rei blinked, "He's sick," and sped up.

            Apparently this didn't shake her because she was soon asking, "How's he sick?"

            Rolling his eyes, Rei responded, "He had a fever when he woke up this morning."

            "Okay," she said, continuing to walk beside him.

            For a minute, Rei stared down at the shorter girl wondering how she was keeping an even pace with him.  Soon, he noticed her heavy breathing and, without knowing it, slowed down a little.  He grinned a little at her determination.  "So, what are you going to do since Sei can't model today?"

            Kira sighed, "I don't know," she replied honestly.  "I really wanted to start painting today, but I still need him to pose for one more day!"  As if inspiration struck, she turned at looked at the person next to her.  The words mirror and image seemed to connect in her mind, because Rei heard next, "You know, you really look a lot like your brother.  Do you think—if it's possible—that you could pose for me in his place?"

            Rei held up his hands in a defensive position, "No, no.  I never agreed to help him out today with anything."

            "But he'd want you to!" Kira pleaded.  "Please Rei, I wouldn't ask you unless this was really important!"

            Rei took in a deep breath and let out a sigh, "Fine."  Kira cheered a little and Rei added as they stepped onto school property, "I'm really going to regret this later, aren't I?  Well, now that I've agreed, I'll meet you in the art room after school, all right?  I've got to get to class now—maybe I'll be on time for once!"

            "Yeah, right!" Kira said having heard stories from Sei about his brother's inevitable tardiness.

            Rei ran down the hallways and up some stairs, past the bathrooms and to his homeroom.  He looked triumphantly around the room seeing only about twelve other people there.  In a minute, many more had joined them, all staring at the early Rei.

            "Daa!" Tatsuya said while kicking Rei's back as he took his place behind him.  "I saw you walking to school today with some girl.  You're only a first year and you're already getting some."

            Rei grinned, "Yep.  She was at my apartment last night and I didn't get a wink of sleep."  Knowing well that Tatsuya was beginning to believe him, he added, "It's my brother's girl, man!  You think that I'd really go after her?"

            "I dunno, dude, you've done some pretty dumb stuff since I've met you," he grinned, "like when you pulled down that guy's pants when we played the Eastside."

            "Those were the days," he replied, looking into the air with dreamy eyes.  "Oh, to be young again!"

            The teacher walked in the room and started the class and before Rei knew it, he was sleeping, dreaming of pulling down the pants of the Shibuya boys.  They were the ones that deserved it.

* * *

Rei pulled open the creaking door to the art room.  He'd just gotten out of class fifteen minutes late because Mr. Tachikawa had taken time after his math class to lecture about the times to sleep and the times to be alert and attentive.  Not being the most interesting thing he'd ever heard, he'd yawned in the middle of his speech and had to clap erasers for awhile.  Now, he was late to his appointment with Kira so the whole art class would stare at him when he walked in.

            He felt their eyes on him as he strode into the bright room and took one of the desks next to his painter.  She grinned when he sat down so he gave her a half-hearted smirk.  Then, he glared at all of the other painters who had been staring as he walked in.  They turned away quickly and busied themselves with other work.

            "So," Rei started, "what do I do?"

            "Let's move into a different room," she said, picking up her supplies and moving to the room next door.  "Everyone was staring at us and I can't stand that.  They creep me out."

            "You're telling me!" Rei exclaimed.  "Did you see the looks I got when I walked in there?"        

            "Yeah," she smiled, "they all thought that you were going to pose . . ." she trailed off, leaving the sentence hanging.

            "Naked?" Rei supplied.  "Yeah, don't they wish!  I'm not, am I?" he asked, giving her a funny look.

            "No!" she defended.  Just come over here and sit in this chair," she gestured to a nondescript chair in the middle of the room.

            Rei walked over and plopped down, "Like this?"

            Kira marched over to the chair and grabbed it out from under him.  He toppled to the floor and she grimaced, but said nothing.  Turning the chair around, she had Rei sit back in it.  Then, she took his right hand and had him grasp the bottom of the backrest.  His other hand ended up laying flat across the top of the back with his fingers dangling off the edge.

            "Perfect!" Kira dubbed as she examined her work.  "Now just stay like that so I can sketch you well."

            "All right," he agreed.

            "So," Kira said after a few moments of silence.  "What's he sick with?"

            "Just a fever," he said.  "He'll be better by the time I get home today, I'll bet."

            "What was he like when he was younger?" she question, obviously interested in the answer because she paused briefly with her sketching to look up at him.

            Rei thought for a moment then decided, "Pretty much like he is now—a burden and annoying."

            "Sei's not annoying!" she defended.  
            "Yeah, he is," Rei told her.  "He likes things like walking in gardens—it's like he's gay or something.  Also, all he ever does is sketch, so you never know when he's listening and when he's thinking of what he's drawing."  Kira looked up with a red, guilty face, but Rei didn't notice.  Instead he continued, "Sometimes, I feel like I'm his mother.  He may get good grades but that guy lacks common sense."

            Kira stared at her sketch unwilling to look at a person who was slandering her friend.  It looked different from all the other ones.  In talking to Rei that morning and now, she'd found out more about his character, which was completely different from Sei's.  His soul was alive in her sketch, so it looked different from the others.

            Seeing that Kira still didn't believe him, he ventured further, "Did Sei ever tell you about the last day of school last year?"

            "No," she said, still focusing entirely on her drawing.

            "Well, then you don't know anything about him.  On the last day of junior high, my brother tried to kill himself."

            Kira's eyes shot to the speaker and gave a small gasp.

            "Yes," Rei continued.  "It's hard to believe, but just hear the story.  Sei was feeling pretty lousy about not having any friends or something, and then he messed up a painting he'd been working on for a long time.  Apparently, he ran up to the roof.  I went to the art room because he was late walking home with me.  I figured out that he went up to the roof because that's one of his favorite spots (long story about that—I'll tell you some other time).  So, then, I run up there after him and see him jump.  He won't accept my offer to help, but just does it.  So then, he was in the hospital for a long time, and my dad didn't even come to visit him.  Both of us got enrolled in counseling, so we've still got to go there a couple times a week.  But they say he's better, so I'm sure you have nothing to worry about."

            Rei took a breath then admitted, "That's the first time I've ever told anyone that story.  Even with my uncle, my dad told him, though it was probably wrong."

            Kira just looked at him in shock.  Finally, she said, "I'm done with the sketching.  Tell Sei that I hope he feels better soon.  I've got to go now."

            "All right," Rei agreed.  "I should probably go check on him anyway.  See you some other time, okay?"

            "Sure," she said, trying to smile.  "Bye," she called, leaving the room.

            _Crap, Rei thought.  _I cannot believe that I just told her that.  What in the world possessed me to do THAT? _ In an afterthought, he added, __Sei's gonna kill me!_

* * *

"How are you feeling?" Rei asked his brother that evening, showing a rare display of sympathy.  "Is your fever down yet?"

            Sei looked up from where he was laying on his futon.  With a pleading look he said, "Don't be mad at me, Rei, but I took some grocery money from the envelope and bought myself one of those fever reducing 'Tylenol' things.  But, I feel better now and my temperature's almost back to normal.  The cost was worth it."

            "How much was it?" he asked, not really caring, but just checking (they'd have to deduct that amount from their weekly spending).

            "Just $4.50—I got the economy sized one because it was on sale."  Looking at his twin, he added, "Normally priced at $6.00!"

            "Good job!" Rei said, giving his brother a high-five.  "It was a lucky that you got sick now, huh?"

            "I was just thinking that!" Sei exclaimed.  "But then, I remembered that I couldn't model for Kira today.  Was she really mad?"

            "Nah," Rei said, shaking his head.  "I was a stand-in.  She's a pretty interesting person.  I can see why you like her."

            Sei gave his brother a fake glare, "Don't be stealing my girl now, you hear?"

            "Never!" Rei grinned.

            "So, what did I miss at school today?" Sei asked.

            Rei thought for a moment, "At the assembly they said something about a trip to the amusement park for the first years.  I think it's in a couple of weeks.  Cost is $20 per person, but I'm pretty sure that Dad'll be paying for us.  I think he's handling—"

            "—School costs, I know," Sei put in.  "He's gonna pay it.  I sure don't have enough cash."

            "Neither do I," Rei agreed.  "Since I didn't play basketball today, Tatsuya and some of the guys want to hang out at the mall.  Do you want—?"

            "No thanks," Sei interrupted.  "I'm still sick, and that's not really my crowd, you know?"

            "Yeah," he said backing out of the apartment.  "Kira says that she hopes you feel better soon.  I'll be back in an hour or so, okay?"

            "Okay, bye!" Sei called after the closing door.

* * *

"Check out the ass on that one!" Takiyama pointed out.  "Hey beautiful, wanna come have some fun?  I'll make it worth your while!"

            The girl scoffed and walked quickly in the opposite direction.  Rei, Tatsuya, Hatomi, and Waya laughed at his failure.

            "Hey, Taki," Hatomi said.  "If you get rejected anymore, we're gonna have to ditch you.  Rei's already gotten four phone numbers!  I've gotten two, and you know that girls don't take well to faces like these," he said, gesturing to his previously broken nose.

            Another girl came up to Rei and started flirting with him.  It ended up that she gave him her number, too, adding to Takiyama's discouragement, who really had been rejected more often than necessary.

            "I'm tired of this," Tatsuya said glancing at his single slip of paper.  Trying to keep peace, he added, "I need some new shades.  I heard there's a new shop at the west side of the mall.  Why don't we head over there?"

            "That's cool," Rei agreed, looking triumphant.

            They crossed the mall, passing the through the food court where another girl asked Rei out.  He declined yet again and they continued forward.  They eventually reached the sunglasses hut which was a small corner shop with ten racks of sunglasses for every kind of person.

            "How's this one?" Waya asked, putting on the kind of sunglasses that go over normal glasses.

            "Dork," Rei said, hitting him upside the head.  "These are the ones that really suit you."

            Turning to look in the mirror, Waya found that Rei had put pink Barbie glasses on his face.  They even had little blue and yellow flowers printed all over.

            "I think that these are better for Taki," he decided, passing the pair to his disheartened friend.  "They bring out his true sexuality."

            Takiyama, having had enough teasing, threw the glasses back on the rack and walked to a different corner of the store.

            "I think we made him mad, you guys," Hatomi pointed out.

            Rei looked at the dejected member of the group and saw something tempting out of the corner of his eye.  "Listen you guys, I'm gonna catch up with you later, okay?  I'll meet you at the main entrance in an hour, all right?  I've gotta do something right now."  He dashed across the hall to a shop.

            "What can I do for you today?" the beautician asked upon his entry to the beauty parlor.

            "I want my hair done," he said.  "Do you do piercing here?" he asked.

            "Certainly," she smiled.  "I can help you at this station," she said, directing him to a barber's chair.  Fluffing his hair, she asked, "Now, what do you want done with this?"

            "Streaks," Rei said definitely.  "Light brown streaks."

            "Are you sure?" she asked with the annoyingly bright teeth showing through her too big smile.  "Do you want it to be permanent?"

            "Absolutely," Rei decided.

            "All right," she said, beginning to wet his hair for the treatment.

            By the time Rei left the salon, his beautiful golden hair had been streaked to perfection.  The streaks weren't that noticeable unless you knew his natural hair color.  They were basically highlights that looked completely natural.  The beautician had done an even better job with his ear.  He had a single piercing done at the lobe of his left ear.  He'd picked out the most "manly" stud, a small gold globe.  He picked up a pair of sunglasses from the hut, just to disguise himself more, before going to the entrance to meet his friends.

            There they were there, trying to pick up girls again.  Takiyama was looking very proud of himself, finally holding a slip of paper that was obviously a phone number.  Chuckling to himself, Rei thought that it was probably a fake.  He walked up to the group, and at first they didn't notice him.  Then, with a gasp, Hatomi uttered, "Rei?"

            Everyone turned to look at this stranger who was said to be their friend Rei.

            "Wow, man," Waya said.  "It doesn't even look like you anymore.  Those streaks are awesome!"

            Rei pushed his hair completely behind his ear, showing off his new earring.

            "Holy crud, Rei!" Tatsuya exclaimed.  "You really don't look like yourself anymore.  Those girls are going to wonder if you're the same person they gave their numbers to."

            "Yeah," Rei agreed.  "But if I didn't do this, they would have all thought that they'd given their numbers to Sei.  Now, they won't get confused in the future."

            "I'd hate to break it to him," said Takiyama.  "His mirror image just got shattered!"

            "Heh," Rei laughed.  "Good one, Taki.  Finally got yourself a girl, huh?"

            "You betcha!" he said happily.  "She's got a GREAT rack.  You should have seen her—dude, she's hot!"

            They chattered loudly as they left the mall.  On the way home, Rei wondered what kind of a reaction he would get out of his brother.  Sei had never liked that there was someone who looked exactly like him, but he would never have done something like this without Rei's consent.  Oh, well, what's done was done.  Sei was just going to have to deal with it.

AUTHOR'S NOTES:  I think that the new Rei looks hot, don't you?  I'm drooling over here.  Even though I do like Tatsuya better, I think that Rei is really hot.  Now, oh man!  I want a piece of that!  Just a quick disclaimer here: I don't own Barbie—that's Mattel (which I don't own either).  Please no suing.  That chapter was kind of fast paced, I believe.  Did you understand the ending?  I didn't put as much effort into it as I think that I should have, but I hope it didn't turn out as badly as I think it did.  Did you guys like Hatomi, Waya, and Takiyama (my lovely creations)?  I thought that they were pretty cute and maybe provided some humor for this fic.  It's been pretty boring so far, right?  I meant no offense to girls when I wrote what those guys were saying, but most of the time guys are offensive anyway, right?  Ha, just kidding you guys!  Don't forget to review (we need twenty-five remember).  Also, look back at the top for the contest rules.  I really want to see if anyone will say anything other than Rei/Kira (besides me, I mean).  See you in the next chapter!


	6. Chanced Encounters

AUTHOR'S NOTES:  Thank you for the reviews!  I'm so happy!  ;___;  Those are tears of happiness!  I particularly like the beginning of this chapter (don't ask me why, it was just fun to write).  How's the story going?  Do you like it?  Let's get some more loyal reviewers, okay?  You guys make my day!  For a business note, I have decided to email people when I get new chapters posted on this story, so leave your email in your review if this is something that you would appreciate.  Go—read—enjoy! 

What Wasn't Meant to Be by Sushifishie

Chapter Six: Chanced Encounters

The entire group laughed heartily at the incredibly corny joke told by Mr. Kashino.  The group included Rei, Sei, their father, and his girlfriend, Aya Suzuka.  They were gathered around Mr. Kashino's mahogany table in a rare family meal.  Rei had only agreed to this meeting because his father was letting him leave early to go practice on his bike and it would be an infrequent free meal.

            "So," Aya said, looking at the two boys.  "I saw on the calendar at work that your school is scheduled to come and visit next Friday."  She was a researcher for rides at the amusement park they planned on going to, 'Wataki Garden.'

            "Yeah," Sei piped up, knowing full well that Rei wouldn't (although he was making an effort to be nice—he had promised Sei before they arrived).  "Just the first years though."

            "To have any more people go would be overwhelming for the park," Aya said with a laugh.  "But, then, big crowds are our specialty."  Glancing in Rei's direction, she asked, "What kind of rides and attractions do you boys like?"

            Sei jumped before Rei could have said anything, even if he wanted to. "I like the Ferris wheel and merry-go-round," he said, unashamed.  "Rei is the one who likes roller coasters and scrambled eggs types of rides.  He'll go for anything that could make you lose your lunch!"

            Aya chuckled a little.  This time questioning only Rei, she asked, "Have you ever been to 'Wataki Garden,' Rei?"

            "No."

            Mr. Kashino and Aya exchanged an all-knowing and completely unmasked glance.  The meal so far had been like a glass half of the edge of the table getting nudged closer and closer to falSignorag.  Right now, the glass would have to be caught, or else it would shatter.  Lucky for this group, Sei was there as a safety net.

            "The only amusement park that Rei and I went to was one in California called 'Disney Land,'" Sei started.  "They had great rides there, and everyone was so tan!  I thought that I was looking at sunbathers or something.  I guess it's just because the sun always seemed to shine there.  I mean, there are some cloudy days, but for the most part, the temperature doesn't drop below sixty degrees.  At least, it was like that I where Rei and I stayed."

            "I wasn't sure they were even my boys when they came home!" Mr. Kashino said.  "I thought they'd been replaced with some Californians, they were so tan!"

            "I know," Sei said, continuing to babble.  "Rei and I got the best tans.  We were at the beach almost every day when it was warm enough to go—our uncle had a house on the beach.  Anyway, you can see how pale I am right now, but then I was almost as dark as," he paused to look around the room, "This table!"

            Sei wasn't normally like this.  The Sei who was quiet and shy didn't exist in this kind of a situation.  During times of need, that Sei left the body of Rei's twin brother and a new personality entered.  It was outgoing, informative, and overall, too talkative.  Tonight, it didn't help that Kira was unveiSignorag her painting to him over dessert.  That just added to his tension and anxiety about the evening.  He really was dreading having her see Rei throw a fit.  He would just have to keep emotions under raps until she got there.

            "Getting back to the amusement park," Aya said, smiSignorag at Sei, "you boys had better be sure to say hi to me when you get there, okay?"

            "Okay," Sei agreed.

            The doorbell rang and Sei's heart lurched.  This was it—Kira was here.  He rose from his seat as calmly as he could and refrained from dashing to the door in a sprint.  Unbolting the door, he opened it slowly, trying not to look too eager.  The sight that met his eyes was gorgeous.  She was wearing a thin, blue and green dress with stitching under the chest.  The dress hung down to her knees, showing off her impressively slender legs.  Her hair was tied in two buns at the top of her head, each complete with small hairs dangSignorag out.  She looked neither too dressed up nor too shabby—the perfect outfit for a perfect girl.

            "I'm gonna be off now, too," Rei called over his shoulder as he grabbed his leather jacket.  Brushing past the awkward couple he said breezily, "Hey, Kira."

            Her cheeks reddened and she gave a little wave to his back as he walked down the hall.  Turning to Sei, she said, "Well then, should we go, too?"

            "Yeah," he agreed, walking over to the table.  Offering his hand to Aya, he said, "It was nice to meet you."

            "You too, Sei," she said, grabbing his offer and shaking it vigorously.  "You can call me Aya, you know," she added with a wink.  "Just for reference for the next time that you see me."

            He nodded at her and turned to his father, "See you, Dad," he said, offering his hand to him also.  His father decSignoraed his hand and instead wrapped him into a bear hug.

            "I miss you boys a lot, do you know that?" he asked.  "Well, I won't keep you any longer.  Go on your date and forget about your old man for the rest of the night."  SmiSignorag to let Sei know that he was just kidding, he let him go.  Then, as a desperate attempt for closure, he added, "Do you want a ride home from the diner?  I can swing by around seven.  How does that sound?"

            "Dad—" Sei began.

            Kira interrupted with, "We would love it if you could come and pick us up.  Seven o'clock sounds fine—we should be done by then, right, Sei?"

            "Sure!" he said, thankful for Kira's compliance.  Waving as he finally walked out the door, he called, "Bye, Aya—Dad!"  Then, he closed the door.

* * *

Sei scooped some whipped cream off of his sundae and eyed the covered canvas—the one he was painted on.  At this diner, Kira had promised him the unveiSignorag of his portrait, just a week after the painting had begun.  He knew she must have worked diligently on it to get it done this quickly.  Now, he just wished that he could feast his eyes on the masterpiece.

            As if reading his mind, Kira said, "If you want to look at the painting, then hurry up and finish eating!  I won't let you get any food on this."

            "Fine!" Sei said, not hastening in any way, just to bug her.  She wanted to show him the painting as much as he wanted to see it.

            Getting bored (having already finished her ice cream cone) she started conversation.  "What happened when you saw the changed Rei for the first time?"

            Sei's eyes drifted to the ceiSignorag in thought, then rested back on Kira's own.  "Well, he had gone to the mall with his friends—nothing big.  When he didn't greet me when he walked in, I looked up and saw his face.  It didn't look like Rei.  You saw him, right?  He's got kind of brownish-blond hair now, and an earring.  Really, why did he get an earring?"

            "Weren't you mad?" she asked, knowing full well that she was approaching dangerous ground.

            "I was at first," he agreed.  "I've had a week to think it over, though, so I guess I'm kind of over it now, you know?  I guess time does heal wounds!"

            "That's good," she said.  "I don't know which way I like him better.  I mean, he was good-looking before, but now I don't know what to think.  Now, he's—yeah," she trailed off.

            "I know," Sei said with a sigh.  "I liked it the old way better, but I guess this is okay, too.  I mean, it's not like it's hurting anyone, right?"

            Sei collected all of the melted ice cream that was left at the bottom of his bowl and enjoyed one last lick of the delicious stuff.  He called the waiter to remove it from the table and got the bill while he was at it.  Looking expectantly at Kira, he cleared his throat.

            "Oh!" she remembered.  "Here we go," she said, grabbing the corner of her covering.  Whipping it off the painting, she added, "I give you—MARS." 

            The painting was beautiful.  Kira had used the pose that she'd spent so much time positioning him in a week earlier.  His head was cocked to the side and his golden hair hung to the side.  The lighting in the picture made it seem that his hair was almost brown because the shadows were so intense.

            Sei examined the painting.  It was truly a wonderful piece of work and it certainly spoke to him.  It seemed that Kira had brought out a side of him that he didn't know.  He looked cool, confidant, and a smart-alec.  She'd put soul into this art, he could see that clearly.  But he didn't understand the title.

            "Why MARS?" he asked.

            She responded laughing, "MARS is the god of war in mythology.  I thought of the name when I heard you talking a few days ago about the fights you and Rei have had.  I thought it was cute to be constantly battSignorag with each other.  Since you have the same face and I sketched both of you, I had conflicting sketches, and this is how the painting ended up.  You and Rei are the gods of war is what I'm trying to say, I guess."

            Sei laughed, "Rei and I don't fight THAT much, Kira!"

            "But whenever you mention Rei, it's that he did something wrong or you guys got in a argument or something," she said honestly.

            "I just mention the bad stuff then," Sei replied, getting slightly defensive.  "It's not like Rei and I don't get along.  We're best friends.  That's all."

            "I see," she said, nodding.  "Is that your dad's car?" she wondered, pointing out the window at an old rusty blue car.

            "Yeah, I guess he's here already."

            "So, what're you going to do with the painting, Sei?" Kira asked, concerned at what would become of her hard work.

            He gave her a knowing smile, "I figured I'd let the artist enter it in a competition.  That is, if she'd like to."

            She gave him a big grin before wrapping her arms around his neck in a hug.  "Thank you, Sei!  I promised to give it to you, I know, so this really means a lot to me!"

            "I know," he said, stroking her hair.  "I know."

            Kira took a deep breath as she pulled away from him.  "I've got to get home now," she said, "I've got a lot of homework left and not much time left."

            "Yeah," Sei agreed.  "Me neither."

            He held the door for her as they walked out of the cafe wearing smiles.  Climbing into the backseat of the car, he silently offered the front seat to Kira, who decSignoraed and sat in the back with him.  As they pulled on their seatbelts, Mr. Kashino asked, "Where is it that you live, Kira?"

            "You turn left at the park about ten blocks down.  My apartment complex is about a quarter mile further than that," she replied with clear instructions.

            "Wow, detailed, detailed," Mr. Kashino commented in amazement.  "Not many kids your age still pay attention to detail.  Now you race motorcycles and use your internet with those fancy computers.  In my day—"

            "Dad," Sei interrupted.  "Kira doesn't want to hear one of your 'back in the day' speeches.  I'm sure that her mother tells her those all the time."

            Kira said nothing, staying silent for her own good.  To contradict would be polite, but certainly not what she wanted.  Secrecy has its own rewards.

            "Is this it," Mr. Kashino asked a few moments later, pulSignorag into her apartment's parking lot.

            "Yes," she nodded, pointing, "there's my mother."

            His eyes got wide as he pulled the car over to an empty space and put it in park.  Slowly releasing his seatbelt and opening his door, he painstakingly stepped out of the car, scarcely letting his eyes drift from Mrs. Aso for a minute.

            Finally, he clambered over to her and asked in a dumbfounded voice, "Signora?  Signora Aso, is that really you?"

            Kira's mom gasped in surprise and clasped her hands together.  "Takayuki Kashino?  Wow, how long has it been, ten years now?"

            "Actually twelve," he replied, not noticing the two staring eyes of their respective children.

            "Wow, how've you been?" she asked in a concerned voice.  "How's your wife?"

            "She died a couple years after we lost touch."

            "Oh, I'm sorry!" Mrs. Aso said sympathetically.  "She couldn't fight it, in the end?"

            "No," he replied, shaking his head solemnly.  "In the end, it won her over.  But she put up a good fight."

            "I see," she said, nodding.  "That's a downer."

            "How's your husband doing?" he returned the question.

            Signora put on a similar face to Takayuki's when she responded, "He got into an accident a long time ago.  Drunk driver."

            "I see," he replied.  "I guess we're just a couple of old widowed fogies with a bunch of crazy teens."

            "Do you know each other or something?" Sei asked, finally interviening on this incredibly morbid conversation.

            "We've known each other since high school," Takayuki answered with a broad grin.  "I met Signora in the debate club."

            Signora chuckled a little, "Back then, your dad still had a taught face (no wrinkles to see there).  Actually, he looked a lot like you, Sei."

            "Kira," Takayuki began with a grin.  "Did you know that your mom once offered to flash someone to win a debate?  Lucky for her, the girl wasn't gay!"

            "Hey, hey!" Signora defended, "I wasn't the only person who did stupid things to win.  One time, this fool told everyone on the debate team that abortion was wrong because 'putting water into a towel doesn't get rid of it.  You have to mop up the mess to get it clean.'  Silly boy thought that he was fighting for absorbtion!"

            Sei laughed heartily and gave his dad a little shove.  "And you yell at ME for getting words mixed up.  That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!"

            "Watch it, boy," his dad warned.  "Or I'll tell Kira about that time two years ago when—"

            "All right, all right," Sei raised his hands in defeat.  "Jeez, no need for that!"

            The silent Kira finally piped up.  "What happened?"

            "No!" Sei yelled, putting his hands over his dad's mouth.  "If you tell her, I swear, I'll tell Signora about how you got your promotion!"

            This obviously shut Takayuki up, because he was completely silent.  The Asos looked between the two of them expectantly, waiting for the secrets to be revealed.

            "Neither of us will ever tell," Takayuki said, zipping his lips in a very childlike manner.  Apparantly, seeing old friends regressed him back into the childhood spirit.

            "Yeah," Sei agreed.  "But I don't trust this guy.  We'd better go before he spills the beans."

            "Okay," Signora agreed.  "I should probably be getting to bed soon, too—early shift tomorrow at work.  I'll talk to you later, Takayuki." Giving him a spontaneous hug, she led Kira up to the apartment.

            "Bye," Kira yelled as she was dragged into the building.

            "Bye, Kira!" Sei yelled back.  He was also being dragged, in his case, into the car.

* * *

The feel of the wind gave its usual rush at the tips of Rei's hair.  Flying out from behind him, the brown strands gave the feeSignorag of individuality.  No longer was he like his twin—he was finally his own person.  He hadn't once been mistaken for Sei in the past week, as was a frequent occurrence before his change.

            He whipped around the corner past an unexpected spectator.  No one had ever seen him race before, save Sei.  It didn't feel right.  It felt like a violation of his rights—an invasion of his privacy.  Racing was like a secret treasure hidden in a box, a caterpillar in a cocoon still forming its delicate wings—something not yet ready to be shown to the world.

            Yet, here was a spectator, breaking his chrysalis and smashing his case.  He pulled out of the turn and made his way back to the pit.  Parking his bike and yanking off his helmet, he hurried to see who this unknown person was.

            Reaching the point at which the person was standing, he learned that his onlooker was a girl from his class who'd been hanging around him often.  Her name was Haruni.

            "Rei," she called in a sing-song voice.  "You look so different in your racing clothes.  It's like you're a different person on the track!"

            "Why are you here?" he asked impertinently.  He wasn't normally mean to girls, particularly ones who seemed to like him, but this was a case of mistreatment.  He could become harsh in cases of mistreatment.

            "I-I wanted t-to see you race?" Harumi said hesitantly.  This wasn't the Rei she knew.  That Rei would have swept her off of her feet and thanked her for this rare opportunity, then took her on a perfectly lovely date.  That Rei had been replaced by a completely different person, a person who was cruel and self-seeking.  She didn't like this change.

            "You're not the kind of person I would expect to see here," he admitted with a softer expression.  In a kind tone, he continued, "I wouldn't have thought that it was you standing over here.  You just surprised me."  He'd reverted back to his usual shell—the outer casing that held his inner thoughts beyond the reach of others.

            Honestly, he didn't want her there.  Not being the first girl he wanted to see him race, he was completely disgusted with it.  He wouldn't have minded if it were one of his friends, or even someone he liked, but definitely not Haruni.  Deciding that he would try to get her off the track, he worked his charismatic charm.  "Listen, Haruni—"

            "—It's Harumi," she grinned.

            "I know what you're here for."

            She gave him a sly smile, and for an instant he was reminded of a girl he'd been playing with the other day, back when he was in a good mood.  That emotion had died since the family dinner, and he was in no mood to play with her like he had with Rika.  Rika!  That was it!

            "Do you really know?" she questioned, twirSignorag a lock of short hair around her finger.

            "I do," he responded, "and no."

            "No what?" she asked innocently.

            "You know what I mean," he said with a stern glance.

            She shifted her eyes, not denying it.  Finally, she asked, "Why not, Rei?"

            "I'm with Rika for now," he said.  "Talk to me in a couple weeks.  Maybe I could pencil you in then."  With that, he sauntered away, immensely pleased with himself.  Sometimes, it was fun just to turn people down.  It gave him a strange satisfaction and cruel joy.  He thought about this while walking to the parking lot outside of the track.  He was surprised to find a car sitting in the lot waiting for him.  Inside were his brother and father, each bearing an unidentifiable countenance.

            "Dad," he wondered aloud as soon as he'd opened the car door.  "What are you doing here?"

            "We came to pick you up," Sei grinned, "and boy have we got a story for you!"

            "Really?" Rei asked, pulSignorag on his seatbelt.  "Did something happen?"

            "Apparently," Sei continued.  "Dad knows Kira's mom from high school!"

            Rei sat for a moment dumbfounded.  After a moment of staring, he looked at his brother and asked, "How?"

            "They were in the same class obviously!  I'll let Dad tell the story, though.  He probably tells it better than I do."

            "Probably?" Takayuki laughed.  "I'll absolutely tell it better!"

            After a second of quiet, Rei started chuckSignorag, "Well tell me already!"

            Takayuki shook his head in quiet laughter.  Looking back at the road, he started telSignorag his story.  "Signora and I met in high school.  We were in the same class, as Sei said, for two years.  We became friends because we hung out in the same crowd.  At the time, I was dating a girl named Mizuki and she was going out with this guy called Tsukasa.  We all hung out together in one big bunch which was made up of many other couples besides us.  All of us switched partners every so once in awhile, but we promised always to stay friends, no matter what relations there were between us.

            "In the last year of high school, Tsukasa broke up with Signora.  I'd dumped Mizuki about a month earlier and was already girl hunting again—don't say anything, Rei.  Anyway, Signora was there and free, so I chose her.  I asked her out, and of course, she turned me down.  But I kept trying.  I wasn't a guy to be turned down!  So, I flattered her, and eventually won her over by the spring before college.  We went out during college and it was working out great between us.  Then, she became an intern for a publishing company and things started to die between us.  We just never talked anymore and never hung out.  We broke up not long after she got the internship.

            "The next year, her boss asked her out, and she accepted.  She'd told me about him after we became friends—yes, Sei, we kept the promise even after high school—and I knew that she was serious about him.  I guess that he was serious about her, too, because they got married about a year after that.  She stopped the internship and became a housewife.  During this, I studied business and met your mother in one of my classes.  We dated and got married, as I've told you boys before.

            "I kept in touch with Signora for a few years after college, but we soon lost connection.  We each had busy lives with our new spouses and children.  This was the first time I've talked to her in eleven years or so."

            "Wow," Rei said, nodding with wide eyes.

            His dad pulled into the apartment's parking lot and turned off the engine.  Rei and Sei left their father each saying a quick goodbye.  They walked into the apartment in silence.  They had a lot to think about.

AUTHOR'S NOTES:  Was that a bad addition to my story?  I didn't know the parent's real names, so I just picked ones that I liked. ^^;; Was that bad?  Oh, well.  The next chapter will make up for it.  Not only is it the first chapter with any romance whatsoever, but it will also have the results for my little couple's contest.  I've already had to cut out a few pairings because they didn't follow my rules (I'm not very strict on them, but some of the reviews were just NOT what I had intended at all).  Sorry that this chapter is really short, but I wanted to get one in before I did the one on November 21.  As my birthday present (11/21 is my birthday), REVIEW!  Nice and detailed with a little critiquing is the nicest thing you could give me!  Please review!  


	7. Tightening Up

AUTHOR'S NOTES:  Jeez, this story is getting long.  My longest story yet, and I haven't gotten bored yet, have you?  I hope the pace is kept even.  Is it?  Well, even if it wasn't, this chapter is definitely out of the ordinary.  We see me try my hand at some kind of romance.  Well, we're all in this together!  Please keep pulling for me and reviewing.  Here's a promise: I won't make any more goal number for reviews.  It's not really the number of reviews that matters to me, it's the quality.  I hate reviews that say, "It was good."  I like the ones that say, "It was good, and I liked how you said this, but I think that this part was awkward, I felt very surprised when you made this person act in this way—I think that it suits them very well, etc."  Those always encourage me more than short ones where people just "like" it.  Please think about this in your reviews (or don't, you know, whatever).  I'm done wasting your precious time with these fore-notes.  See the after-notes for my contest results.  I'm sure you'll all be pleased (I certainly was)!  One more thing, a DISCLAIMER; I don't own McDonald's, or even work there.  I'm sorry for the long wait in between chapters, I've had a lot going on with me recently (AKA: boyfriend trouble).  Anyway, I produced this chapter especially for you, so enjoy it!  By the way, I didn't have anyone edit it, so there may be many errors.  I am finished with this quarter bonus though (it really is practically a quarter of a page), so I'll shut up now.

CONTEST:  I'm so sorry!  I told all of you the wrong date.  I was thinking 11/21 (still my birthday) but then I decided to write in November because some people do the numbers a little bit differently.  So I ended up confusing myself and writing November 11, which is indeed not the correct date.  I'm sorry for any confusion that I may have caused.  Please look to after the story for the results—and don't forget to read my story!

What Wasn't Meant to Be by Sushifishie

Chapter Seven: Tightening Up

"Sei!" Kira screamed as her frizzy hair whipped around her face.  "This is so—FUN!" she finished as they whipped around another corner.

            It was finally the long awaited trip to "Wataki Garden,' the promised amusement park.  The first years had been contemplating this day for weeks.  It was a day to finally take a time out from school and be themselves for once.

            At this point, Sei and Kira were on the most popular roller coaster at 'Wataki Garden,' the Shooting Star.  The ride had a powered launch of sixty miles per hour, at which point the trains immediately ascended a steep cliff where it felt like the coaster wouldn't reach the top.  It hung there for a moment defying gravity before finally dropping down a steep cliff.  The train then whipped around many bends and loops until finally it slowed to a stop at the embarkation station.

            Kira and Sei were on the last bend when Kira said that, and finally came to a stop a few moments later.  The train lurched to a halt, and a woozy Sei and excited Kira climbed out.  Well, Sei hobbled more than climbed, but that was because of the ride.

            Giving him an inquisitive look, she asked, "Are you okay?"

            He chuckled a little and assured her that he was just fine.  "Can we just sit for awhile, please?"

            Kira laughed at this.  She saw by the look on his face that he was only a little shaken up and in no danger of blowing chunks (unless they decided to go on another ride).  Choosing to help him instead of merely laugh, she offered, "Can I get you a can of juice or something?"

            He nodded and watched her hurry off to find a machine.  Sei sat back in the bench perfectly content.  This was the chance of a lifetime—to hang out with Kira on an almost-date that he didn't have to pay for.  He couldn't believe his luck!  He had her to himself for the entire day, and the long lines for all of the rides gave them plenty of time to talk.

            Seeing her coming back with some grapefruit juice, he held out his hand to receive it.  He took it with a happy, "Thanks!"

            "A bit spirited for being ill, aren't we?" Kira smirked.

            This caused Sei to go into a fake coughing fit.  At the end of it, he cleared his throat and asked in a mock hoarse voice, "Better?"

            She covered her mouth and let out a little giggle, responded, "Sure.  Next time, though, remember to turn your head."

            Letting out a chuckle, he shook his head in amusement.  "I will, as long as we don't go on anymore roller coasters."

            Pretending to walk away, she called, "What do you mean 'we?'"

            Sei leapt to his feet.  Hurrying after her, he yelled, "Kira, wait up!"

            She turned and gave him a heart-startling grin.  Walking slower, she continued on, giving him fair opportunity to catch up.  Finally, he did after a few seconds of sprinting.

            "I'm hungry!" Sei announced once he head reached her side.  "Let's go get something to eat."

            "You know how much grease is in these foods, right?" she asked.  "Aren't they kind of gross-looking to you?"

            "Of course!" he chirped.  "It's all part of the fun of going to an amusement park!"

            "Well," she said, getting in the spirit.  "What sort of filth do you want to eat?"

            "How about a burger?" he said, pointing to a McDonald's.

            "All right," she agreed with a slight grin.  "If we're going to eat greasy foods, we may as well go all out."

            "True!" Sei nodded.  "Good point, good point."

            They approached the stand with equal looks of distaste—Kira at the food and Sei at the excessive packaging.  The environmentalist in him was kicking in, and Kira was about to have a cow about the greasy food.  Each wearing a grimace, they refrained from lecturing the vendor about the quality of his merchandise, and instead each ordered a cheeseburger and cola.

            Walking back to the bench, they took a seat, Kira on the right, Sei on the left.  Like a lady, she propped her left leg over the knee of her right and let it dangle off the edge.  Like a typical guy, this intrigued Sei beyond belief, and once again, he found himself admiring the slender, smooth look they had.

            Kira noticed him staring and gave him a glance—one that told him to watch himself.  Quickly, he looked up and dug into his food.  Kira did the same, but not without giving the meal her sincere regards.

            "Nasty stuff, this burger is," she said, trying to form a complete sentence that actually made some sense.

            "C'mon, Kira," Sei pleaded.  "Please just try to enjoy it."  Then, in a joking voice he added, "Suck it up, soldier!"

            This caused Kira to burst out laughing.  Trying to stifle it, she stuck her hand over her mouth, making air swish through the cracks between her fingers.  A funny noise resulted from this, and she just started laughing harder, no longer trying to cover it up.

            "Jeez, Kira!" he said in surprise.  "What's so funny?  The joke wasn't THAT good!"

            She pointed at his mouth and continued to laugh.  She finally managed to say between giggles, "It wasn't that funny.  I just never imagined that the drill sergeant would have a piece of meat caught between his two front teeth!"

            Instantly, Sei began to rub the front of his teeth with the tip of his tongue.  Sure enough, a small strand of meat came out from between the gap in his teeth and was quickly swallowed before anymore embarrassment could occur.

            "You're starting to remind of the stories Mom told me about your dad!" she remarked.

            "You guys talked about us after we left?" he questioned with fake indignity.

            "Yes," she said, going back from playful Kira to normal, quiet Kira.  Sei wasn't so sure that he approved of this transition.  But, he had to deal with it nonetheless.  Calmly, she added, "Was that bad?"  Then she cracked another dazzling smile.  She was only playing with him.

            "Absolutely!" he exclaimed.  "But honestly, though," he began more seriously.  "What did you guys talk about?"

            "My mom just told me about how she knew your dad and their connections, why they broke up and everything.  She told me some funny stories about him, too."

            Sei moaned, "But that's unfair!  I didn't get any dirt on you or your mom, so why should you have some on us?"

            "I'm just special, I guess!"

            Sei was happy that Kira was in a joking mood still.  Just a month earlier, back when he'd just met her, she was perfectly silent and afraid of him, it sometimes seemed.  But as soon as she'd gotten to know him better through painting with him, she had begun to come out of her shell.  Little by little, she'd become easier to tease, and it was almost as if her personality had not exactly transformed, but been refined.  Some points of it were dulled, and others were highlighted, and now she was a different person when she was near him.  It made him feel almost proud.

            "You know my painting of you?" she asked, not really expecting an answer.  As soon as he gave a slight nod, she continued, "I showed it to our supervisor, and she loved it!  She showed to some art collectors and they loved it, too.  One of them recommended it to an art show that's going to be held at the community center in a couple of weeks (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from eleven o'clock to eight, to be more exact)," she added quickly under her breath.

            "That's great, Kira!" he congratulated, giving her a pat on the back.  Slurping up the end of his drink, he pointed to an attraction that caught his eye.  He said, "How many Sei's do you think that you can see at once?"

            "Huh?" she asked, not catching his meaning.  He lifted her chin away from the last bite of cheeseburger and to the specified attraction, the house of mirrors.  "Oh!" she said, finally getting it.  "I don't know.  What do you say we go find out?"

            Sei leapt to his feet and helped Kira to hers.  Hand in hand, they ran to the house of mirrors and entered with little hassle.  Once inside, they amused themselves by running hands first into the various mirrors, and observing themselves from odd angles (these odd angles being with various body parts pressed up against the fun house glass—nothing crude though).

            By the time they were halfway through the mirrors, they were laughing up a storm.  Sei, was trying to hurry and get out, but instead continued to run into mirrors.  Kira played the raptor and learned from his previous mistakes, never trying the same places that he did.  Soon, she was far ahead of him, and he was left behind in the fun house.

            After about five more minutes, Sei exited the attraction very proud of himself.  He'd gotten out of that hideous maze unscarred.  Looking to his left, he pulled on the girl's shoulder.

            "I finally made it out!" he exclaimed, only to his dismay, it wasn't Kira that he'd turned around, but a complete stranger in her place.  He yelled a thousand apologies before finally searching for the real Kira.

            He looked left, he looked right, but he didn't see her.  He even looked under a bush or two along the side of the main walk, but he couldn't find her.  Taking a seat on one of the nearby benches, he decided that she was still in the house of mirrors, and he would just wait her arrival.

* * *

What poor Sei didn't know was that Kira left at another exit.  She, too, was looking under stumps and over other people's heads for the one called Sei.  Not seeing him either, she got a little exasperated and did the same as Sei—she took a seat on a bench.

            As she sat, her thoughts drifted to the person she was looking for, Sei.  A few weeks ago, when Rei stood in for Sei as a temporary model for her painting, Rei had told her about what Sei had done at the end of ninth grade.  Even then, she still couldn't believe it.  Sei was one of the most level-headed people that she knew, and she couldn't imagine that he would kill himself for such a thing as bullying.  But—she was thinking of the Sei that she knew now.

            Sei had certainly changed since the point when she first met him.  That first day in the art room, he had been wary of the other classmates, but seemed to force himself to make a friend.  Now, she was certainly glad that he chose to be friends with her.  Back then, he didn't really have much personality.  Well, he did, but it wasn't accentuated.  It was like he didn't want to let his true self show to others and he stayed quiet to keep out of trouble.

            _No, she reminded herself.  _That's you, Kira.  You're the one who stayed silent because it was easier.  Sei was the one with enough guts to talk to a complete stranger.  Now look at us!  What would high school have been like if I hadn't become his friend?__

            She stopped her thought-speech there.  She didn't want to think about what her life would be like without Sei.  He was like a pillar and she was like a ceiling—he kept her spirits high and supported her.  He was a rock that wouldn't move and a tree that couldn't shudder.

            _When did his presence come to mean this much in my life? She asked herself.  She didn't know, but she did know that she couldn't live without it._

            She felt a solid presence approach her, so she lifted her head.  Bringing it up to eye level, she saw the figure of Rei.  His towering stature made her heart flutter, and she jumped up at the sight of him.

            "Rei!" she exclaimed, flustered.  "Where did you come from?"  This was another person that she felt comfortable with.  Even if she'd only known him for a short time, she felt close to him.  It was like they shared a red string, or they had a special bond between them.

            "I finally ditch—lost Rika in the house of mirrors," he replied, catching himself before saying something he might have regretted later on.

            "I guess that makes two of us!" she said with a smile.  "I seem to have lost Sei, too," she explained.

            From out of nowhere almost, Rei offered, "Well that's too bad.  Do you want to hang out with me instead?  I mean, since you lost Sei and all."

            Almost without thinking, Kira clearly answered, "Sure!  That'll be fun!"

            Rei couldn't believe what he'd just asked.  He supposed that it was all right to let Kira hang out with him—he was still gaining his popularity, though.  But it was still okay.  Since Kira was his brother's girlfriend (almost) he was sure that his friends would accept her as someone decent.  At least, he wouldn't get any weird looks for it.

            He wondered why he'd asked her in the first place.  With the awkward silence before he asked her, it just seemed like the right thing to do.  At least it had cheered up Kira.

            He looked to his side and noticed her with a little grin on her face.  She looked up at him and noticed his glance.  Her face reddened and she looked away quickly.  Rei wondered why for a moment, but didn't push anything.  She probably just didn't want to be seen with him.  After all, he was Rei.

            "If you didn't want to hang out, you could have just said you didn't want to," he said, trying to leave the tempting sullen edge off of his voice.

            "No!" Kira insisted.  "This is just fine.  I want to hang out with you!"  As if she'd said something wrong, she added quickly, "I mean, I don't mind hanging out with you, Rei.  It's fine like this."  She gave him a reassuring smile before looking back down at the path.

            The smile didn't reassure him at all, but he decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.  He continued walking next to her.  In doing this, he noticed that she didn't look that bad.  Her brownish-blonde hair almost matched his (only hers was natural), and they looked good walking next to each other.  She was short and lean, he was tall and lean, and they made the perfect pair.

            _Not as perfect as her and Sei, though! Rei reminded himself.  They still won the award for the cutest couple in his book.  From thin air, another thought came to him, completely (or so it seemed) unrelated to the first.  __I've got to ditch Rika for real, soon.  I don't know who I'll choose next, though.  I don't really like Harumi that much, but who else is there?_

            Looking down at Kira again, his heart gave an involuntary thump.  He looked back at the road and busied himself looking at the different rides, trying to forget that strange response.

            Rei saw not a ride, but Tatsuya!  He grabbed Kira's hand and hurried over to meet his friend.  As he ran over, dragging Kira behind, he noticed his friend watching them.  Tatsuya saw him and who he was dragging and seemed to tighten up.  He was instantly straight-backed and fully upright to his tallest.

            They met up with the tight young man a moment later.  Kira was panting slightly—her legs were a lot shorter than Rei's.  She found that Rei was still holding her hand even though they'd stopped running.  He had a looser grip on it for certain, but she still blushed a little looking at it.  Her heart gave an unexpected lurch, and she was pleased to know that Rei was busy conversing with his friend and not looking at her facial expression.

            Tatsuya was having similar thoughts about Kira.  At least she was looking away and couldn't see the way he was acting.  With his stiff shoulders and choppy speech, the only person who could notice that anything was wrong with him was Rei—and this amused him beyond belief.

            "So, what've you been doing so far today?" Rei asked him, his hand shaking noticeably and for no apparent reason.

            "Not much," he began, following Rei's eyes in their steady path to his hand, "just riding the coasters and other rides like the—" he stopped trailed off as Rei's eyes finally met with Kira's hand, finding the source of the shaking.  Kira had her small hand in his, and was obviously feeling a little nervous.

            "Cold, huh?" Rei commented.  "Here," he added, wrapping his leather jacket around her shoulders, "Maybe that'll help."

            She gave a brief shrug to accept the warmth, and then reddened.  Normally, Rei would have found this funny, and he tried to let out a smile, but a grin wouldn't come naturally.  He studied her red face more carefully, and Kira thought that he was expecting some gratitude.

            "Thanks," she said in a hushed voice.

            His heart gave an off-beat shudder, and he felt his face beginning to flare up, too.

            An older couple passed them by and broke into quiet chuckles.  This triangle was humorous to those who hadn't realized that this WASN'T a triangle.  For one, Tatsuya had never even met Kira before (as far as Rei knew), and he definitely didn't feel that way about either Tatsuya or Kira.  Kira positively liked his brother, and not him, he thought.  This image displayed in his mind seemed to calm him down, and his red face was replaced with a softer one.  He gave a shudder and cleared his mind of all these thoughts, bringing him back into the conversation.

            "Yeah," Kira was saying, "those were the days."

            Tatsuya nodded, "I'm glad that we left that school this year though, if we'd stayed any longer, then we would probably have been in a class twice that size, what with all the cuts they've had to make recently."

            "Yeah," she agreed again.  "I sure don't know what they're doing with our tax dollars!" she made a feeble attempt at a joke.

            "Wait a minute," Rei put in, holding his hands up.  "I don't get it.  You guys went to the same junior high?"

            They each nodded and stared back at him with impending eyes.  He turned away and remembered the way that Tatsuya had tightened up when he first saw them walking over.  It was either that someone bumped him from behind, he was hiding something, or—

            "So, you've always had a crush on her, eh Tatsuya?" he joked, jutting an elbow lightly into his friend's side.

            Kira had never seen a person get so red so fast.  She'd never seen anyone run that fast either, she thought as she watched his retreating figure mingle into a crowd, only to be lost among the many unknown faces.  Not willing to put two and two together, she ignored Rei's last comment and pulled the jacket tighter.

            "It's kind of cold out, huh?" he said, not really asking, but still expecting an answer.

            "I guess," she admitted, "I don't know why I'm shaking this much."

            Rei grinned, "Maybe you have a disease!"

            Kira grinned just to be polite, and tried not to take any offense at his statement.  Sometimes, Rei was mean without knowing it—he just had a cynical sense of humor that played with people in sometimes insensitive ways.  Still, sometimes insensitivity could be nice—

            "So, feel like riding that?" Rei asked, pointing to the ride that they had caught Tatsuya exiting from.  It was one of his favorite rides, as Sei had told Aya at the dinner a week earlier.  With its long arms hanging from the base in the middle, it was a ride that would scramble your eggs and your brains—hence the name "Scrambler."

            Kira looked at the ride with unease.  The roller coaster had played games with her stomach that she hadn't admitted to Sei, but this was most certainly going to be much worse.  But, as if wanting to prove her worth, she agreed.

            That was how she found herself sitting next to Rei in one of the cars.

            "Hold on tight!" the operator yelled before turning on the hideous arms.

            Kira was all right at first.  It wasn't so bad, just a dizzying spin that could have been done by twirling in a circle.  But just as she'd gotten her confidence up to that level, the ride got worse.  First they went upside down, and she could feel herself slipping out of her seatbelt—the one that she had firmly strapped herself in just moments earlier.  Next, they descended into an unexpected drop, and her seatbelt really did come loose.

            "Rei!" she shrieked, just as his arms reached out to grab her.

            Holding on tight, he grasped her small body as the ride culminated and concluded.

            She stepped out of the ride feeling rather wobbly.  Rei was still holding onto her, and he led her to a bench to sit down.  As they took a seat, Rei said in a pleading voice, "Kira, I am so sorry.  If I had known that would happen then I never would have asked you to go on that ride."

            Kira nodded acceptingly.  It wasn't Rei's fault, and his apology sounded so sincere that she almost wished that he would keep talking like that.

            "Are you okay, can I get you anything?" he asked with that same, concerned tone, which was totally unsuited to him.  He sat down beside her and put a reassuring arm around her shoulders.  This Rei was uncharacteristically pampering.

            Kira shook her head, not wanting him to leave.  He nodded, and sank comfortably into the seat.  He wouldn't leave her just yet.

AUTHOR'S NOTES:  Originally, this was merely the first half of chapter seven, but it ended up exceeding my usual length.  I'm strapped for time getting ready for Thanksgiving and my birthday, so I decided to leave it there.  The next chapter continues right where this one left off, so hopefully that will please you.  I tried to save you from a cliffhanger—I try to never end chapters like that.  I hoped that you like this anyway.  I'm sorry about my mistakes on the contest dates, please forgive me everyone!

CONTEST:  Well, here are the results (I put them in percentages because that made it seem like I had a lot more reviews than I really did, heehee)!

Kira/Sei: 20% (I love you guys, I never would have thought that they would get ANY votes!)

Kira/Rei: 70% (Yeah, yeah, we know—you guys are such conformists—just kidding, we love you anyway!)

Kira/Tatsuya:  10% (Don't ridicule me, I KNOW that it would never happen—unless—no, definitely never!)

These results were my present to you (on my birthday).  Now, for my next contest, guess my age!  No really, guess.  I've always wondered what age the readers imagine the author to be.  If you get it right, I will send you an email personally and give you many thanks.  But trust me, you won't ever guess.


	8. Time Out

AUTHOR'S NOTES:  Chapter eight is technically the second half of chapter seven, but I didn't finish chapter seven in time for my promised update (which was wrong, I'm sorry) and it was too long anyway!  Make any sense?  I didn't think so.  I just reread my previous chapter—will you guys notice what utter crap it was?  Oh, well, maybe you'll have gone easy on the flames (hopefully).  This chapter may be even worse, but my editor said that it would be pleasant if I picked up the pace a little bit.  Never fear, readers of my torturous fanfic, I have many chapters mapped out.  I have to chapter nine outlined on paper and to chapter eleven in my head.  Now, let's just hope that I can get them on paper!  Let's see how this works out!  Speaking of MARS (don't we always), I've had the sixth book ordered for six days as of when I wrote this, and it STILL hasn't come in!  But—there's good news—I've found a different store that actually carries the series.  So, once my discount is validated at the store I'm using right now, I'm switching!  Just get me number six. . . 

            One more thing before you read this chapter, and this one is IMPORTANT to it.  A loyal reviewer has kindly offered to give me the names of people that I don't know yet, such as Mr. Kashino and Mrs. Aso.  So, I did get their real names, and I changed them in chapter six, where they also appeared.  Now, Takuto Kashino is Takayuki Kashino and Lin Aso is Signora Aso.  Personally, I liked my names better, BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER!  Now they're right, so thank you!

What Wasn't Meant to Be by Sushifishie

Chapter Eight: Time Out

"Are you ready to go?" Rei asked, holding his hand out to Kira as he stood up.

            Kira nodded and accepted his offer to help her up.  Standing up from the bench, she wobbled a little bit.

            "Be careful!" Rei cautioned, putting his arm around her waist again.

            She nodded and finally stabled herself.  Somehow this whole series of events had felt like a déjà vu.  Only, she had been the one helping a queasy person up from a bench.  A déjà vu—of course!

            "Rei!" Kira said quickly, jolting suddenly so that his arm left the spot on her waist, "what happened to looking for Sei?"

            Rei let out an uncharacteristic gasp, "Oh, crap!  I completely forgot, and it's getting almost too dark to look for him," he said, pointing at the now evening sky.

            "Yeah," she agreed, nodding.  "But we should probably still look with what little light there still is."

            "But where should we start?"

            "I don't know," she admitted.  "I guess we should walk along the main drag until we see him or something."

            "Or—" Rei insinuated, looking pointedly at the Ferris wheel.  "We could get an even better view from up there, you know."

            Kira thought for a moment.  Was it really okay to go on another ride when she didn't even know where Sei was?  Would it even help in finding him?  Well, one more ride couldn't hurt anything.  "All right," she finally agreed.

            "Cool," Rei bobbed his head, grabbing her hand.

            He led her down the main drag at a run/walk.  The line was very short—only twenty people or so—and he wanted to get there without any wait.  He got his wish.  Once in the queue, he and Kira were waiting but five minutes before the wheel finally pulled a car up in front of them.

            "Lucky the line was so short," Rei commented.  "Much longer and we would have missed him if he'd walked by."

            "Yeah," she agreed, looking out at the road.

            They sat in silence for a few minutes as the wheel turned higher and higher, stopping for a break when they'd finally reached the top of their incline.  Looking down at the road still, Kira was surprised to hear a noise like gunfire.  She looked at Rei in surprise but he merely grinned.  Then, he pointed to the blackened sky, which was now illuminated with bright colors.

            "Wow," she admired, settling back into the leather cushion, feeling almost free from the weight of the burden to find Sei.  Not that she was giving up—the fireworks just made everything insignificant compared to the agony she'd had over losing her friend before.

            "Kind of makes you think, doesn't it?" Rei said, turning towards her now.  He stared at her with such intensity that a blush began to creep back onto her cheeks.

            "Uh-huh," she nodded, looking back out at the sky.  She couldn't tell what Rei was thinking, and it was beginning to scare her a little.  She shivered and wrapped his jacket a little tighter.

            "Still cold," he stated with a chuckle.  He casually yawned and stretched out his arms until his back made a crack or two.  Then, he brought them down to enclose her under his shoulder.

            Kira tried her best to suppress the gasp that had escaped, but Rei had heard.  He gave her a smile as the wheel began its downward cycle.  "You are so silly, did you know?" he grinned, leaning in.

            Again, Kira wanted to gasp, but this time she resisted.  Instead, she focused on the face that was nearing hers.  Completely forgetting about finding Sei, she accepted Rei's kiss and closed her eyes.

            Before she could protest, even if she had wanted to, Rei's eyes got wide.  As if coming out of a reverie, he pulled away from her and stood up—again, completely uncharacteristically.  Today appeared to have that affect on him.  As he stood, his eyes widened and he let out a desperate sounding, "Oh, crap."

            He put his hand to his forehead and said, almost regrettably, "I'm really sorry, Kira.  I didn't mean to—I was just caught up in the moment, you know?  It's just me.  It's just what I do."

            "It's okay," she smiled, recovering quicker than he would have expected.  This gave him new respect for her, and for a moment wished that he hadn't pulled away from the kiss so soon.  "It's you, Rei!" she grinned.

            Feeling almost dismal, Rei's face displayed a palling grin.  There was merely a smiling mask that covered the person who really was Rei.

* * *

Sei hummed as he walked down the main drag.  He was confidant that he had just seen Rei and Kira walking together just minutes earlier when he'd been on the Ferris wheel to get a better look.  But now, as he walked along looking for them, he appeared mistaken.

            _I just hope that she didn't get kidnapped or something, he thought, bumping into someone._

            "I'm sorry!" he bowed.  "Excuse me!"

            "Sei, don't get formal with me!" Aya smiled.  "You look lost," she commented.  "Can I help you?"

            "Oh, hi, Aya," Sei said sounding almost depressed.  "I thought that I had finally caught up with Kira, but now I've lost her again."

            "Is it important?" she asked with a frown.  "If so, then I can have her paged."

            "No," he shook his head, "it's really not.  I'll just keep looking.  By the way, have you seen Rei either?"

            She shook her head, "Sorry Hun, can't help you there.  I'll keep my eyes open for either of them though."

            "Thanks," he said, waving.

            At this point, he was about ready to give up.  But, he decided to try the Ferris wheel one more time.  He'd seen someone he had thought looked like them the last time he'd gone up there, so it was certainly worth another try.

            Hearing a loud boom, he immediately looked toward the direction it had come from—the sky.  Beautiful colors filled the sky and the firework show began.  He wished Kira were with him to see this, but he'd have to find her first.

            Sei looked jealously at the other couples on the wheel as it began to slow down.  They all seemed wrapped up in each other, particularly a blonde couple still near the top of the wheel.  Their silhouette proved that they were kissing, and Sei tried to turn away, but curiosity got the better of them.

            He saw the male figure pull away and back up from the girl.  The shadow told him that the man was making arm movements, as if explaining what he did.  _Poor guy,_ Sei thought.  _Maybe the girl didn't like it—or maybe he did something else wrong._

            Continuing to stare and not bothering to avert his eyes any longer, he watched the pair's car drop to the station.  The little door swung open and they climbed out and began to walk down the stairs.

            Sei almost let out a very girly scream when this sight met his eyes.  Instead, he let out a very shocked, "Kira?" before dashing away.

* * *

"So, do you think that he's really mad at me?" Kira asked concerned.  "I mean, it was pretty obvious that he saw us when you," she lowered her voice to a whisper, "kissed me."  She hung her head a little lower.

      "C'mon," he said, lightly patting her hunched back, "Sei's not the type to get mad over something as silly as this.  He knows that I accidentally kiss girls all the time!"

      Kira's face burned and without knowing it, she'd put on a curt expression, like she'd eaten a lemon.  It wasn't as blatant as that, but Rei could tell that she was upset at his last comment.

      "I mean," he corrected, "I don't just kiss any girl.  I have to at least know her first."

      He gave her an apologetic smile and her expression dropped to one of less concern, but straightened back up again when she remembered the expression on Sei's face.  He had looked so hurt.  It was just a kiss—did it really affect him that much?

      "I'm confidant that it will be fine!" Rei reassured again.  "Just be sure to be extra nice to him in the next couple of days.  Bring him a gift or something—he likes cookies—and I'll try my best to explain what happened with," he dropped his voice into a whisper, mocking her similar tone, "the kiss."

      Kira giggled, despite her lingering anxiety over her best friend.  She wondered how Sei would react when Rei told him what had really happened on the Ferris wheel.  She imagined him blowing up at his brother for destroying his friendship with her or just walking out of the room at the sight of his brother.

      She let out another chuckle and Rei wondered what was going on inside her head.  He vocalized this question and she responded, "I'm just thinking about what Sei will do when he finds out that his brother has been—" she paused to think of a good phrase, "two-timing him," she finally came up with.

      "Well, if we're going straight to two-timing, then at least let me do something meriting the word two-timing," he said, beginning to wrap his arms around her waist.

      He gave it a little squeeze before dropping his arms back to his sides.  Shaking his head, he decided, "I wouldn't do that to my worst enemy.  I'm not really into stealing other guys' girls."

      Kira laughed, "So now I'm 'his girl?'"

      "Haven't you always been?" he wondered.  He thought for a minute before a light seemed to click on his brain.  "Wait—don't tell me—he hasn't asked you out yet?"

      "W-What?" Kira stuttered.  "Ask me out?" she squeaked.

      "Oh, for the love of GOD, Sei!" Rei moaned, putting his hand to his forehead in distress.  "Okay," he sighed to Kira, "Just forget everything that I've just said.  Remember nothing, all right?"

      "First," she responded pressingly holding a finger up to him, "tell me about this asking me out business."

      Rei sighed, "Please tell me that my brother has at least told you that he likes you.  Please?"

      Kira shook her head and said honestly, "I haven't heard anything."

      "Aw, jeez," he groaned, "can you just forget about this?"

      Shaking her head firmly, Kira put another cold expression on her face.  "You'll tell me."

      Rei took in a deep breath, a little bit scared.  Never before would he have expected Kira to get this worked up—so worked up that she would have this sort of contortion on her face.  He breathed, "I shouldn't be the one to tell you this, but it's pretty obvious by now that no one else will.  Listen Kira," he continued, looking her in the eyes, "my brother has had a crush on you since the first day of school.  I never thought that he was chicken enough to just not say anything, though."

      Feeling his face harden, Rei turned away.  For some reason, he was beginning to get angry with his brother.  Though he hadn't done anything wrong, he was getting all worked up.  Sei had this wonderful girl to have for a friend and he could hang around her all he wished, but he was just taking her for granted.

      _If it were me—which it isn't, he reminded himself, _then I would have snatched her up a long time ago.  Hell, I would have done it on the first day of school.  But,_ he added continuing to calm down as he and Kira turned onto her street, _I'm not Sei.  Sei's too different from me to even imagine what goes on in that boy's mind.  I guess I'll just give him some advice and let him do things his own way.  After all, _he thought, putting on an almighty grin, _I do have more experience with this than he does!__

      "Here it is," Kira said, stating the obvious next to her apartment complex.  "Well, I guess I'll see you on Monday."

      Rei felt her discomfort and tried to be unconcerned.  His face masked the uneasiness that he felt, but Kira would never have known that.

      "See you," Rei agreed, beginning to turn away.  On impulse, he walked back and gave her a hug that lasted little more than half a second.  "Bye," he added, turning away for real now.

      Walking back to his house, Rei did some thinking.  What was he going to tell Sei?  'Hey, I just kissed your girlfriend' somehow didn't seem very tactful to him.  But, what would he say instead?  Sei was still fragile, no matter what kind of a front he had been putting up in front of other people lately.  So what was he supposed to say?

      _This isn't like you, he thought.  _You know from experience that the words will come at the appropriate time.  Rehearsing just makes them lifeless and unmeaningful.  Just wait, you'll see.__

      He walked up to the foyer of his apartment complex, dreading what would happen when he opened his front door.  There was reason for his concern.

* * *

Sei rolled his eyes to the top of his head so that if his eyes were open, all anyone could see would be the whites.  But no one was around to see, and his eyes were closed anyway.  Not that it mattered.  It seemed like no one but Aya cared.  No, that was giving himself too much credit.  No one did care. Aya was just showing fake concern for him to get into his father's pants.  That's what he thought anyway.

      Kira and Rei certainly didn't care.  They'd shown that when they completely neglected his feelings on that Ferris wheel just hours earlier.  After all that time, they still had yet to apologize.  At this point though, Sei didn't even know if he was going to just accept it.  _They are certainly taking their time,_ he thought, glancing at the clock on the wall.

      He rolled over onto his stomach from his position on the bed.  Stuffing his face into his pillow, he let out a low shriek to release his pent up energy, then let his head fall to the side.  

      An unexpected knock came to the door, a rap that lasted three strokes, and the door opened.  There stood the broken mirror image of his twin.  He rolled back over and let his brother walk in without a proper greeting of any sort.

      "Sei," Rei addressed him, leaving his words hanging.

      Sei felt a sense of guilt with the knot in the pit of his stomach.  He swallowed to find that his throat had collected quite a bit of build up, and the phlegm scratched and burned.  He cleared it, and tried not to let his eyes well up as he avoided looking at his brother.

      "Listen," he started again, staring at his brother's back which was currently facing a wall.  When Sei still didn't turn around, Rei walked over, grabbed his arm, and jerked it towards him.  Sei turned over, but he wasn't very happy about it.

      "You idiot!" he screamed, throwing a punch that landed on Rei's shoulder.

      Rei knew that this was serious.  Sei was the most anti-violence person he knew, and here he was throwing a punch that wasn't exactly pain-free.  If someone like Sei was throwing a punch, that meant that whatever the circumstance was were to have been dire.  Rei would have held back, had he not just been punched, but his animal instinct kicked in, and Sei got hit back on his same shoulder.

      It would have been funny, had it not hurt so much.  Each of the brothers were standing on one side of the bed, facing each other with glares that were complete with twitching eyebrows.  They each held an almost transparent sneer, and their stance was if they would pounce at any second.

      Each breathing heavily, they lunged at each other and Rei tackled his brother onto the mattress.  He held his fist poised in the air.  Bringing it down, he heard the cry of his twin saying, "Kira!" and he stopped.  He sat up and slid off of the bed.  Then, he stood next to his brother.

      "I didn't mean to," he said sincerely to his tearing brother.  "It just happened.  I swear, Sei, it didn't mean anything!  You know that I never would do that to you."

      Sei looked angry still, but gave a slight nod.  "Go on—tell me what happened," he replied, giving Rei a wary look.

      Rei sighed, mostly calm again, and said, "Well, we were looking for you!  I thought that it would be good to go to a high spot to see if we could find you, and Kira agreed.  So we went on the Ferris wheel.  But, just as we reached the top, the fireworks started and I guess we just got caught up in the moment.  But trust me, Sei," Rei added, holding his hand up, "it didn't mean anything.  Kira doesn't like me that way!  She's your girlfriend."

      "Yeah," Sei said, averting his eyes again.  Then, he looked back at Rei and prompted, "What else do you have to say?"

      Rei grinned, "I'm sorry, man.  Do you forgive me?"

      Sei's frown disappeared, but he shook his head.  "Not yet anyway."  He went on to explain, "I still need a little more time to mull things over.  I'm going to the botanical gardens to sketch, okay?  I'll be back in a few hours—eat dinner without me.  I just need some time out," was his parting note.

      Grabbing his coat, Sei left the apartment and walked to the gardens.  He could blame his brother, but he couldn't really ridicule him.  To Rei, girls were like paintings were to Sei—a hobby.  So, instead of getting angrier with his brother, Sei felt his irritation dissipate.

      He approached the gardens fairly quickly—they were only ten minutes away—and sat down to draw.  First, he sketched a blooming primrose in the greenhouse, which was climate controlled so that it bred plants out of season.  After that sketch was done, he did another of a falling leaf, using the trees outside as a model.  He had picked objects that were under light so that he could see what he was doing.

      Sitting down on the bench, he began tracing faint black chicken scratches with his fingers to create shadows.  Within minutes, the sketch was complete with shadowing and lighting reflecting off of various leaves and roots.  He held the sketch away from his face to admire it.  He erased a few branches and redid some leaves on them, but completed within a short span of time.

      Sei nodded, feeling better than he had an hour earlier.  He'd actually forgiven Rei at this point, but he didn't know what to do next.  He had a feeling that if he saw his brother at this moment, then there was a good chance that Rei would walk away as a bloody pulp, but he wasn't nearly as angry as he was earlier, but he still didn't want to see that person yet.

      Looking around, he tried to find something else to sketch.  His eyes rested upon a couple kissing on a bench through some bushes.  He'd been watching lots of couples recently, he'd noticed.  Maybe this was a signal to make himself half of a couple?  Sei continued to stare.  He couldn't seem to take his eyes away.

      The couple finally broke apart.  Sei felt embarrassed for looking, once again, but he couldn't seem to tear his gaze away.  Now, he could see the couple, and he could not believe his fortune today.  The two people were Takayuki Kashino and Signora Aso!

* * *

Rei was half asleep, though it was only ten o'clock, only to be abruptly awakened by the pulsing of a ringing phone.  It was the only electric appliance the Kashino brothers had in their apartment, but sometimes they still wanted to destroy it along with the alarm clock.  Sometimes sleep was simply more important.

      Rolling over, Rei put on his robe so that he looked at least somewhat modest before standing to get the phone (besides, it was cold).  He stumbled over to the ringing monster, tripping over a pair of shoes and getting tangles in a pair of jeans.  By the time he actually got to the phone, he was about ready to throw it out the window.  Needless to say, his greeting was less than welcoming.

      "What!" he groaned into the phone.

      "Did something happen, Rei?" Tatsuya asked, being his usual "older brother" type.  "You sound really mad."

      Rei glared at the phone and yelled, "Do you appreciate being woken up when you're about to get you first full night's sleep in many, many days?"

      "Sorry," Tatsuya said, not sounding very apologetic at all.  "I really had to talk to you.  It's important."

      "It had better be," Rei muttered under his breath.  "What is it?"

      "I think that I like Kira," he stated blatantly.

      Rei caught the phone before it hit the ground.  "Are you for real?" he asked, stunned.

      Tatsuya nodded, forgetting that he was on the phone.  He explained, "We've been in the same school since the seventh grade, and I guess I've always felt something for her."

      "Well why haven't you done anything about it?" Rei wondered.

      He thought for a moment, then said, "Well, I kind of got rejected without even asking."  Feeling Rei's raised eyebrow through the phone, Tatsuya added, "One time, I accidentally touched her, and she pulled her hand away like I was some kind of monster!"

      "That's harsh," Rei agreed, still being too emotional over the amusement park today to really have any good insults on hand.  "I might be a little wary about asking her out, too.  Oh!" he said, getting inspiration, "do you want me to ask her for you—no wait, she's "going out" with my brother," he frowned.

      "You seem kind of angry about that," Tatsuya pointed out.

      "I am, sort of," he admitted.  "I mean, he's got this girl who obviously likes him, but he hasn't got the guts to fess up and ask her out.  I don't know why it irritates me so much, but it makes me angry!  I almost want to ask her out, just to spite him."

      "Don't do that, Rei!" Tatsuya begged.  "That's too mean, even for you!"

      Rei's eyes flared in mock anger, "What do you mean 'even for you?'"

      "Bye, bye, Rei!" Tatsuya taunted, hanging up the phone.

      Rei nodded as the line went dead.  He held the phone in his hand and began to think.  Now, both his friend and his brother were in love with the same girl.  He didn't know who to help!  If he helped either one, the other might get mad, but it was probably safer to help Sei—Tatsuya understood the calls of brotherhood.

      He felt an itch in his chest.  Tatsuya and Sei had found someone to love seriously, so why couldn't he?

AUTHOR'S NOTES:  Time for more of these things!  But I have a humorous story to tell you guys.  I went upstairs for a couple of minutes to play with my bird whom was getting restless, and I came back downstairs to find my editor playing cards at my computer.  I push her out of my chair and go back to writing again.  I look back at what I had typed before I left, and this is what I saw, "He cleared it, and tried not to let his eyes pop out as he stared openly at his pulsing ulcer."

      I cracked up, and I still laugh at it every time I read it.  If you don't understand the context, my wholehearted apologies, but still—funny!

      This chapter ended up being too short, but oh well.  I hope that it at least entertained you.  The next chapter will be very boring, followed by one that I cannot wait to write (it'll be so much fun)!  So off I go to get this edited, and off you go to review!  Wave to Editor-sama!


	9. Sixth Vertex

AUTHOR'S NOTES:  I read book number six!  Look out Kira, things aren't always what they seem (I promised no spoilers ;_;).  I really want to talk about it!  Someone AIM me and talk with me about it.  I've got a friend reading MARS, but she is presently on book number one!  I need to talk!  I'm starting volleyball season, so I may be updating about once every two weeks as an estimate.  I know that this is infrequent, but my life has become rather hectic lately (I'm still shooting for valedictorian)!  Anyways, I like the plotline that I started with Signora and Takayuki, and I sincerely hope that you like it too because that's what I'm kind of getting into for the next couple of chapters.  Don't worry though; there'll be some more fluff (not telling between whom though)!  Stop rambling, Sushi; write the actual story for the people!  Okay, here you go!

What Wasn't Meant To Be by Sushifishie

Chapter Nine: Sixth Vertex

The walls of the dark blue room seemed impending to Rei on this dark autumn day.  While leaves were falling outside in what seemed to be a violent storm, it couldn't compare to what was going on inside the clinic.  Rei was sitting on a blue leather chair in his psychologist's office trying to control his anger.  If he blew up at his shrink, then who knew what kind of a place they could put him in.

            "Rei," the doctor continued calmly, but firmly, "if we're going to make any progress, then you're just going to have to tell me about what's happening.  Remember when you hit that cat with your motorcycle?  Wasn't everything much better after you told me about it?" Rei nodded to suffice.  "Excellent, then please tell me what is wrong now."

            Sighing before he told him, Rei finally admitted, "I feel like I'm in the middle of everyone's problems.  I've got all of these people who are toying with my feelings.  Like Tatsuya (my friend) for example, the other day he called me on the phone when I was asleep to tell me that he likes Kira (my brother's girlfriend)."

            "And you didn't like that," the doctor nodded.  "Who else is bugging you, Rei?  Tell me about everyone."

            "Well, there's Tatsuya," Rei said, finally talking.  "There's Harumi and Rika, too (these two girls from school).  They both hang around me and try to flaunt me like I'm an accessory or something.  It's like I'm something that can be bought or pawned for popularity or for revenge and other things.

            "Another person is Sei.  He's kind of going out with Kira, but not really.  They hang around each other all the time, but they aren't officially going out yet.  It just makes me so pissed that he can't get up the nerve to just ask her out already!"

            After Rei was done, he was panting a little.  A single drop of sweat trickled down the side of his face, and he stared at the blue walls to calm himself down.

            "That was indeed a breakthrough, Rei," the shrink complimented, shaking Rei's hand and standing—the signal to leave.  "I hope that every future session is like this one.  We could work out a lot more of your conflicts that way.  Please send in your brother."

            Rei walked out of the office and into the waiting room thinking about the doctor.  He'd noticed how careful the guy was about his word choice.  In the last thing he said, he could have used the word "problems," but knew that it may have offended him, so instead used "conflicts."

            _That is one smart guy! Rei thought as he tapped Sei's shoulder._

            Sei knew that this was to signal the beginning of his turn.  He stood up, handed his magazine to Rei, and departed into the hallway leading into the blue office.  Rei took his seat and looked the clock, expecting to wait awhile.  If that was what he'd had to say to the shrink, he could only imagine the amount that Sei would say.

            Sei certainly did have a lot to say also.  As he made his way to the office, he imagined what the visit would go like.  He would tell the psychiatrist the things that happened in the past several days since his last visit.  After explaining how each event made him feel and going into great detail about the things he should or shouldn't have said, he would eventually be dismissed (possibly in tears) so that the next patient could come in.  Then, he would go and leave with Rei.  At least, that's what usually happened.  Today was a little different.

            He went in the room thinking of what a triangle they'd had in the past few days.  There were so many links between different people.  Rei had kissed Kira, whom he liked.  Then there were all the girls at school who were fawning over Rei.  It felt like a big jumbled love triangle.  He expressed these feelings to the psychologist, who nodded his head as Sei concluded, "Sometime I just feel like, I don't know, like the sixth vertex in some weird love triangle."

            "These emotions are not uncommon, Sei," he told him once he'd finished telling.  "In your position, many people may have gotten very angry with your brother—what you did was very mature.  I compliment you in doing that."

            Sei grinned, "I just used your five step process.  It cools me right down.  But, I still haven't talked to Rei about steps four and five yet."

            The doctor nodded faintly, "You are going to have to do that as soon as you leave here today.  Remember, that's the only way that things will work out between the two of you.  Let's have a practice run—we still have lots of time left."

            "All right," Sei agreed.  "For step four, I'll say, 'Rei, I think that we both agree that you were in the wrong in this conflict, but you have apologized and I have accepted your apology.  I'm sorry that I got so angry with both you and Kira, and I hope that I will never have to get angry about that again.'  For step five, I'll say, 'In the future, please don't chase girls that I like.  With all of your charisma, there's no chance that I could win.'"

            "That's pretty good," the shrink noted.  "Though, you may want to work on some of your word choice.  Some things that you have said may make Rei feel offended."

            "I know," Sei said, "I was just pulling this off the top of my head.  I'll think about it a little bit more before I talk to him for real."

            "Excellent," the psychiatrist said, standing.  He shook Sei's hand and said, "I believe that this was a very good session.  Please come again, and close the door on your way out.  See you in a few days, Sei."

            "Bye," Sei waved, closing the door on his way out of the blue office.

            In the duration of Sei's appointment, Rei had gone through five magazines for articles on racing, and he'd even seen one about himself.  It made him laugh the way that the reporter made him to be like some sort of racing god.  He'd just shaken his head after reading it, letting out a small chuckle.  This was probably why the girls at school wouldn't leave him alone!

            Rei saw Sei finally coming into the waiting room and stood to put on his coat.

            "Have a nice chat?" he asked insincerely.

            "Yes, thank you," Sei grinned back, mimicking his cynical disposition.  Putting on a real face, he added, "We talked about you, Rei."

            "Really?  I didn't know that even guys like to talk about me!" Rei exclaimed, trying to keep in a smile as they left the building.

            Sei whapped him upside the head and replied, "Dork, not like that!  The doc told me that we had to finish steps number four and five about the whole kiss thing."

            Rei nodded and smirked, "Go ahead."

            "Hah," he said sarcastically.  "You know that we have to do this for real.  Okay, we both know that it probably wasn't the best act that you could have ever done—kissing Kira.  But, although I'm still a little bit ticked, I forgive you for doing that.  Just don't ever go after Kira again, because I'm afraid that she really might choose you."

            "Okay," Rei agreed.  "That sounds fine to me."

            They walked in companionable silence for the rest of the walk, though at the end, Rei commented, "Sei, we have got to get ourselves a car!"

* * *

Tatsuya jumped up and slapped Rei's hands in a high-five while saying, "We kicked some north-side ass!"  He gave a little grunt returning to his feet and counting the money he'd collected in his fist.  "One of our biggest hauls yet!" he declared.

            "Yeah!" Rei whooped.  Pumping his fist in the air, he jumped higher than thought humanly possible.  After landing with a thud, he grabbed his share of the money from his friend.  "Definitely have to play these rich-asses again!" he yelled.

            Tatsuya grinned, hoping that the boys they'd just played basketball against were out of hearing range.  Because they didn't come back, he assumed that they were.  He was glad, too.  Although they had won easily, the game hadn't been refereed, proving to be a fatal error to their team.  The north-side weren't good ball players, they were just rough.  He'd need to use some hydrogen peroxide on half a dozen cuts once he got home.

            "Too bad Kira wasn't watching, man, you were on fire today!" Rei yelled happily.  "If she had seen you, there's no way that she would go out with Sei!"

            Tatsuya turned red.  He shook his head and his hair made a skirt around his head.  Looking up at Rei, he said, "C'mon Rei, don't say things like that!  You know that's not true." He was depressing the mood when he added sullenly, "Kira thinks that I'm filthy, remember?"

            "Jeez, Tatsuya, you're ruining my good mood!" Rei complained half-heartedly.  "I guarantee that she does not think you are filthy.  I'll even ask her sometime for you!"

            Sometimes, though, even Tatsuya needs time to complain.  Not giving in to Rei's cheery responses, he continued, "You wouldn't understand my situation, Rei.  You've got all these girls around you always, and you can just pick a random one and have fun with her.  But, see, I can't do that.  I want to be with someone that I really like, not just a girl I know."

            Rei tried not to take any offense to anything that his friend had just said about him, because, in fact, some of it was true.  He did fool around with just about anyone who came his way, and he didn't really love anyone.  Probably wouldn't ever.

            He tried to pay attention as Tatsuya continued, "It's all very well for your brother.  I mean, Kira likes him!  Rei," he said from out of nowhere, "are you okay?"

            "Huh?" he grunted.

            Tatsuya pointed, "Your eye—it's twitching!"

            "So it is," Rei agreed, slapping his eye impatiently.

            "Anyways," Tatsuya continued, "your brother is lucky enough to have Kira.  I wish that she would like me!"

            "Now you're sounding like a middle school prep," Rei insulted.  "Don't ever say anything like that again.  I'm sure that if you had met Kira, for real, first, then she would like you instead of Sei."

            Tatsuya shook his head, "I know that that's not true.  Sei's done more for Kira than I ever could have.  I mean, look at her!  She used to be so shy, never talking to anyone and rejecting everyone who even looked her way.  Maybe it's better that she stay with Sei."

            "Tatsuya—" Rei began.

            "Rei," he interrupted, "it's all right.  For a crush, longer doesn't necessarily mean better.  I won't give up on her," he added, pumping a fist in the air, "but I won't sabotage her happiness with Sei."

            Rei nodded, bringing the conversation to a close with, "Listen, I've got to meet Sei at the front gate in about half of a minute to walk home.  I'd invite you to come with us, but you live in the other direction."

            "Too true," he agreed, "See you later!"

            "Later," Rei waved, dashing off to meet up with Sei.

* * *

"I have to leave in five minutes!" the art instructor yelled to all of the students.  "So it's time to clean up right now!  Hurry up!"

      Sei looked at Kira and they both began to clean up the clay that they had been using.  Kira was making a model of a soldier's upper body and Sei completed a lovely rose.  Earlier that day, the teacher had declared that she could practically smell the flower, and demonstrated by holding it up to her nose and inhaling.  Then, she'd whisked it away to fire it, and Sei had begun a second project, a butterfly.

      Planning on giving the flower to Kira, he hadn't said anything to her about it, but he was very happy that it was up to par.  In this way, he was in a very good mood.  He packed his supplies with an eerie little grin on his face, and she began to wonder just why his face looked like that.

      They walked out together just in front of the art teacher, who closed the door and locked it behind her.  They let her pass by them and she warned, "Don't dilly-dally too long now, kids."

      Grinning back at her, they nodded.  Her eyes sparkled as she turned the corner, and they followed at a more leisurely pace.  Walking in step, they looked at each other every ten seconds, thinking of something to say.  Finally, Kira spoke up.

      "Sei," she began hesitantly, "does Rei like anybody right now?"

      His eyes widened.  Where did that question come from?  Why in the world would Kira care about that?  Sei looked at her with a surprised expression and was quiet for a moment.  Finally, he answered, "I'm not sure.  We don't usually talk about that sort of thing.  I mean, he was going out with this girl, Rika, from second year, but I don't think that he liked her very much.  He dumped her a few days ago.

      "It was really funny, he tells me.  He asked her onto the roof during lunch, and I think that she probably was expecting them to make-out or something.  But, instead, he just says, 'Things aren't working out for me.  Let's break up now.'  Then he walked away!

      "I know, I know," he continued, "it is really mean.  But, it's still funny, don't you think?"

      Kira nodded with a grin.  "I can't believe that he really did that!  Does he always break up like that?"

      Sei shook his head, "No, usually he just two-times them until they find out.  But I guess it's special this time, maybe.  Possibly," he mused, "he really does like someone!  But who?"

      Shrugging, Kira said, "I just hope that it's not another girl like Rika.  People like that are no good.  You know," she added, "I used to think that Rei was that sort of a person.  That was back when I'd first met you and hadn't ever really talked to him before.  I know better now," she put up a victory fist.  "I know that he's a really nice guy.  I could even see myself falling in love with him someday!"  She quickly covered her mouth.  Then, she relaxed and put a hand on his shoulder and whispered, "Don't tell, okay?  I wouldn't have said anything, but you're my best friend, so I know that you can keep my secret."

      Sei looked at her somewhat gloomily, but then more resolute.  "Kira," he said, "while we're telling secrets, let me tell you who I like."  He pulled her elbow in and whispered into her ear, "You."

      She gasped and looked into his eyes.  Hers were watering a little, and she wiped at them furiously.  He could tell that she was under a lot of pressure, and gave her a reassuring smile.

      They neared the front gate where Rei was waiting.  Before they turned their separate ways, Sei added, "Think about what I said, okay?  Please give me an answer as soon as you can!"

      "Answer to what?" Rei asked as they walked down the sidewalk to their apartment.  His face turned a little pale, and he expected the worst.  He held his breath and witnessed what he least desired.

      Sei grinned broadly and announced, "I finally confessed!"

* * *

Back at the apartment, Sei happily discussed his day with Rei, concluding with the only part Rei actually wanted to hear about.

      "So, then we were alone in the hallway," Sei said excitedly.  "She started talking about you and your girlfriends, which was pretty funny!" When he saw the evil look spreading across his brother's face, he added, "Not in a bad way or anything—we were just kidding around.

      "Anyway, I leaned over and told her that I liked her!"

      Rei nodded, "Sounds pretty romantic.  You'll have her in the sack in no time!"

      "Dork!" Sei cried, shoving Rei to the side.  "That's no way to treat a lady!"

      "I would know," Rei agreed.  "I have to open doors for you all the time!"

      He started cracking up, and Sei pushed him onto the mattress of his bed, which they were currently sitting on.  He pressed his full wait on his brother.  Sei wouldn't normally be able to hold Rei down—he was just too weak for his macho older brother—but by catching him surprised, he managed to do it his time.

      Pinning his shoulders, Sei tried to get a three-count.  He held him down for one count, and Rei started squirming.  At two, he was pushing out of Sei's grasp, almost escaping it.  Before he could reach three, Rei wriggled out from under him.  Rei flipped him over with a kick of his knee.

      In the blink of an eye, he put his two legs on top of his brother's chest and held his arms triumphantly in the air.  Without needing to hold Sei with his arms, he counted to three with great ease.

      "I win!" he announced.

      "Yeah, yeah," Sei agreed, pushing Rei off of him.  "Hey," he started, suddenly remembering something important, "You'll never guess who I saw in the park the other day!"

      "Kira," he guessed.  When Sei shook his head, he said, "Tatsuya." Again with the shaking, and again with the guessing he asked, "Well then was it Rika?  Kyoko?  Oh, I know," he said nodding confidently, "it was the emperor!"

      "No!" Sei finally interrupted.  "As I said you'll never guess!"

      "Well, then tell me!" Rei commanded harshly.

      Sei grinned a mischievous smile before continuing.  Dragging out the suspense, he simply stared at his brother for a moment.  Finally, he told him, "It was dad and Kira's mom, Mrs. Aso.  They were together."

      "What?" Rei exclaimed, trying not to sound too surprised.  "Together as in hanging out or together as in _together_ together?"

      "Definitely _together_ together," he explained.  "They couldn't really be doing that sort of thing if they weren't _together_ together."

      "What exactly were they doing?" Rei asked suspiciously.  "Wait," he interrupted, "do I even want to know?"

      Sei snorted, "It's nothing worse than what you've done.  They were just kissing, that's all."

      "Oh," he replied, sounding somehow disappointed.  Then, quickly he asked, "So now ours and Kira's parents are dating?"  Sei confirmed this question.  "So if, however unlikely, they get married, then you and Kira would be brother and sister?"

      Looking shocked, Sei gasped and put his hand to his forehead.  Realization had struck.  If their parents got married, he and Kira would be siblings!

      "That can't happen," he decided with a frown wrinkling his forehead.

      "I didn't think so," Rei began.  Then, he told Sei his plan.

* * *

Later that day, Sei went to the park.  He was sketching random objects at a quick pace, not really paying attention to his work.  The only thing that he could think about was the possibility of being Kira's brother.  _But, with Rei's plan, he chuckled, __that could never happen!_

      As he drew a duck that was swimming by in the cold, glassy pond, he heard a voice through the bushes.  He got a strange feeling that he'd heard the voices before, but he stayed quiet.  Sometimes, it was best just to listen.

      "Listen, bitch," the first voice, a somewhat deep, female voice said irritably, "just because Rei broke up with me doesn't mean that you can have him.  He wouldn't even look your way for a second!  A guy like Rei doesn't go for street whores."

      "I hate to break it to you, hon," the second voice shot back, "but Rei would look my way, and he has.  That's probably the reason he ditched someone like you.  He couldn't handle the money that you wanted for your," she chuckled, "services."

      "Why should I believe that a hot guy like Rei would want a slut like you?" the first voice yelled.  When Sei put two and two together, he figured out pretty quickly that this girl was Rika, Rei's ex.

      "Because," the other girl began, "there's no way that he would ever get back with a slut like you!" She had obviously done something cruel, because a moment later, she stormed around the corner.

      In this, he learned the second girl was Harumi.  He'd seen her at school before, and Rei had told him that she was after him.  It was just like Rei to have to girls fighting over him when he wasn't even around to witness it!

      He laughed to himself about this, and then almost jumped a mile.  On his shoulder, he felt a light tapping, and he quickly turned to see the contributor.  The last person he expected to see had joined him on the bench.

      Sitting there next to him was Kira.

      "I've decided," she told him seriously.  "I want to be your girlfriend."

      Sei burst out laughing.  When Kira looked a little bit hurt, he explained, "It's just that you sounded so serious!  I mean, if you just got asked out, you're supposed to be happy, right?"

      "Am I?" she wondered laughing.

      "YES!" he shouted.  "Definitely supposed to be happy."

      She broke out into a huge grin and said, "Well, I'm happy now, aren't I?"

      Sei smiled back.  Then, memories of time spent earlier that afternoon came flooding back into his mind.  His father and Kira's mother could get married if they liked each other enough.  That wouldn't be good news for him and Kira.

      He told Kira everything, ending with the part about Rei's plan.  It was a plan that couldn't fail, and she looked impressed as soon as his explanation was finished.

      "I want to help you out," she decided.  "I'll definitely play my part."

      "Excellent!" Sei exclaimed.  "Then, we have to get started!"

AUTHOR'S NOTES:  I ordered volume seven, preordered eight!  But, because it's Christmas, they're going to take a couple of weeks to come in!  I'm upset, but that's okay, I guess.  I'm really sorry about the shortness of this chapter.  I've had most of it written for awhile, but most of it's not about anything.  It's just people's feelings on my little love triangle.  Would you believe that I have no idea who I'm going to pair with Kira?  I still don't!  It could still go either way!  Anyway, this was really short because I got bored of the lack of action.  I just wrote a Fruits Basket fic that was really long, and I neglected this for awhile.  The next chapter should be fun though.  It brings Rei's plan into action.  

      One more thing before I leave.  This chapter had a lot of these things: * * *.  I know that.  It served a purpose.  With those, I could change between points of view throughout the entire chapter and could add more detail.  The next chapter will hopefully be out soon.  I can't wait to write it, so please review!


	10. Selfish Plans

AUTHOR'S NOTES:  My deepest apologies will have to be expressed in this author's note.  I know that I haven't updated in a month and a half—I'm certainly well aware!  A few months ago, I had already decided that this would be an upbeat chapter with lots of happy happy stuff.  Well, lately I have been in a very not happy happy mood.  Let me just put it this way—I am currently going through some tough times, and I am sure that some of my cynical mood will come through in writing.  Breaking up with my boyfriend has nothing to do with my mood, although having one right now would be nice (for the record, I broke up with him)!

            For those of you who keep up with me, I have gotten volumes seven and eight, and whooey, are they awesome!  Everyone, go out and support MARS!  Also, TokyoPop (which I don't own) is doing a survey as to what their next licensed manga should be.  Anyone who wants to help me can certainly go to their site and vote for Hanazakari no Kimitachi E (For You in Full Blossom).  It's a really great series that you should all vote for, then purchase!

            One more thing, actually about the fic and not about my personal life: I realized that I've been making a typo for awhile now in my own character.  Ms. Suzuka's name was beginning to be suspicously read as Ms. Suzuki.  She is not a motorcycle.  Also, just for reference, this has not yet been proofread, so if you see any blatant errors, please alert me to them!  So, with that, please read my fic!

What Wasn't Meant To Be by Sushifishie

Chapter Ten: Selfish Plans

"I still don't get it," Kira said with a pout.  "You only have your futons and your bookcase—there's just a minifridge and a microwave!  How is it that every meal is just TV dinner style?"

            "You get used to it after awhile!" Rei replied, throwing his hands up in disgust.  "If you're that concerned, Kira, then come and make us dinner, because neither of us can cook worth beans."

            "Rei," Sei grimaced, "be nice to Kira."

            She held a hand out in front of her boyfriend, "No, Sei.  I will come and cook for you sometime, even if it's just to shut this guy up," she pointed to Rei.

            "Hey, that's not nice!" Rei whined with a smile.  "Wow, Kira, even you can be mean sometimes!"

            "Kira," Sei grimaced, "be nice to Rei."

            The three began to chuckle at this.  At this time, they were sitting on the floor of the Kashino twins' apartment.  Rei was leaning against his own bed with one arm sprawled across the top of it and the other dangling at his side.  Sei and Kira were sitting a few feet away leaning in similar positions against Sei's bed.

            Sei slapped the ground, signaling an end to the laughter, and they let out a group sigh.  But, they finally had to get to business.  Picking up his clipboard, Rei tried to look very official.  Clearing his throat, he began, "This meeting was called to finalize detailed plans for "Operation Break-up Takayuki Kashino and Signora Aso."  Our first order of business," he said, holding up a hand to silence Kira's giggles, "is to clear up any unknown information.  Is there anything that you don't understand?" he asked, looking at the others with a restrained smile.

            When each of them shook their heads, he continued, "Okay, with that completed, on to the second order of business.  It's to call Aya Suzuka, dad's girlfriend.  Who should make the phone call?  It shouldn't be me, because we've already established that I'm against her completely."

            Kira raised her hand, "I don't even know her, so it's not me either.  Sei's obviously the only one fit for this job!"

            Putting a fist to his heart, Sei declared, "I won't fail you.  Thank you for this opportunity!" he bowed, causing another flurry of giggles from Kira.

            "Stop that nonsense!" Rei commanded, half-seriously.  He didn't have any idea as to why he was trying so hard to destroy Signora and Takayuki's relationship, all he knew was that it was important to him—very important.  "Just make the phone call now.  The dinner will be tonight, you know?  It's got to be set up very soon to work right."

            Sei grinned and simmered down.  He stood up from his spot against the bed and reached his arm out to help Kira up, too.  She grabbed it and was easily pulled to her feet.  Grinning, she plopped down on the bed, near where the phone was sitting on the nightstand.  Looking expectantly at her boyfriend, she waited for his move.

            While Rei joined them near the phone, Sei picked up the receiver and took a deep breath.  He was not very good at making phone calls.  He didn't understand it!  He could easily talk to people in person (well, that was a lie; as soon as people started talking to him in person, he could easily respond), and even in the few encounters he'd had in chat rooms on the internet had been even easier than talking in person.  But, for some reason, the phone was different.

            Feeling the pressure of the other two's eyes, he began to breathe a little bit faster.  This happened whenever he called people.  Sei would pick up the phone and dial up to the sixth number before hanging up in cowardice.  He gulped and stared at the cord leading to the wall.  Maybe he could pull it out and pretend that the phone service had been cut off or something!

            "Give me that!" Rei finally yelled, grabbing the phone off its hook.  "You're taking too long.  I'll just call her!"

            Sei gave his brother a look of relief and let out a sigh.  Although Kira gave him a weird look, he dismissed it easily.  He was used to it by this point.

            "Can I please speak to Miss Aya Suzuka on the matter of . . ." Rei paused to think for a moment, but couldn't come up with anything "just tell her that Rei Kashino wants to talk to her, okay?"

            As he was connected, he hummed with the music that the phone was playing.  Sei snorted at his brother's lack of skill and Kira tried to contain herself, but she found herself unable.  She ended up rolling on the bed in laughter, especially when Rei started to sing.  He abruptly cut himself off, and Sei could hear laughing on the other end.  He briefly wished that they had speaker phone before listening intently to Rei's half of the conversation.

            "Hey, that's cruel.  Don't be laughing so hard!" Rei pleaded, easily charming Aya into giving him her trust.  There was no way that she had any idea that she was a just a ploy in their clever scheme.

            Rei paused and listened to the other line, but all the others could hear was some high pitched laughter.  Apparently, Aya had found Rei's singing as hilarious as Sei and Kira.  She couldn't seem to stop laughing.  They almost felt bad that they were using her in such a way.

            "Anyway," Rei interrupted with a mock angry tone, "I have a favor to ask."  He waited a second for her answer before continuing, "Dad invited us to go out to dinner tonight, the four of us—you, Dad, Sei, and me—at that one Italian place in the next town with the mural with the famous Italian sights," he listened, "yeah, that's the one!  Anyway, Sei and I need a ride because my motorcycle is at the garage being repaired.  Could you swing by and get us?"

            He smiled as he heard what Aya was saying, "Yeah, I suppose so!" he agreed with a chuckle.  "But I don't do this very often, remember.  It's at six, I believe," he said, looking at Kira for agreement.  She nodded and he added, "Yeah, it's at six."

            Nodding, he said, "Thanks, Aya.  We'll see you at six then.  Bye!" he called as he hung up the phone.  Turning to the others, he pumped a fist in the air and yelled, "Score!"

            The others let out cheers of relief and looked at one another excitedly.

            "The next step," Rei began, "is to get Dad to the restaurant.  Kira, you've already talked to your mom, right?"

            "Of course!" she said brightly.  "I've had this set up for almost a week.  This had better work out, because she's taking some time off of work for this."

            "Wow, unusual Kira vigor," Rei commented to his brother.

            "Sounds like that to me, too," Sei agreed.  "It's interesting.  We should see it more often."

            Kira blushed and asked Rei, "Could you do the next step already?"

            "Yeah," he said, "but I really think that Sei should do this one.  I can't talk to dad very easily, you know?  We're not exactly on good terms."

            "Fine," Sei agreed, "I don't mind calling Dad."

            There was something incredibly easy to Sei about calling his father or Rei.  They were the only two that he could phone comfortably, probably because they were family.  He took Rei's place at the telephone and dialed the familiar number in haste.  He tried to sound perky as his dad answered.

            "Hi, Dad!" he chirruped.  "This is Sei.  Sorry for bothering you at work, but I wanted to invite you out to dinner tonight.  It's at that Italian place that you really like . . . yeah, that's the one!  Rei and I have invited a small group of people." After pausing to listen, he added, "Some of them are the Asos."  There was another stop, and then he finally concluded, "Great.  We'll be there at six thirty.  Don't be late!  I love you, Dad!" he smiled, hanging up the phone.

            "Isn't he just so cute?" Rei asked Kira, tugging at the side of Sei's cheek.

            "Get off," Sei smiled.  "We can't play; we still have to plan more things out."

            "That's too true, my dear brother," he nodded, "too true!  Alas, Kira, we must stop this dilly-dally and feedle-foddle and get down to business."

            She giggled, "You sound like Dr. Seuss!"

            "Don't we all?" he said with a feel of superiority.  "Now we seriously need to start the plan!"

            The group spent about an hour planning the last minute details needed to arrange the meeting at the restaurant.  Right now, their Dad thought that it was a group meeting.  Aya thought that it was just a family get-together.  Signora Aso merely thought that it would be just her and her daughter.

            There were three very confused adults!

* * *

Later that afternoon, about three hours after Kira left their presence, Sei and Rei sat in the same positions as they had when she was still there.  Each leaning on their respective beds, Sei was reading his Japanese history text, and Rei was listening to his CDs and reading the Shounen Jump for the week.

            Sei twiddled his fingers, finding himself unable to concentrate very wholeheartedly.  Although he was reading, nothing was sinking in, and he knew that everything he had "learned" would be forgotten within the next evening.  Setting his book on the floor, he stared at his older brother, who was making it even harder for him to concentrate.  At that moment, Rei was loudly whispering the words to a heavy metal piece with lyrics that Sei was strongly opposed.  After a few minutes of giving him the death glare, Sei gave up.

            Slamming his book shut, he looked impatiently at his watch.  It read as almost a quarter to six.  Jumping to his feet in alarm, he walked over to his brother and yanked the headphones from his ears.

            "Rei!" he said with obvious urgency, "We've got to leave in a couple of minutes."  Glancing out the window, he added, "I just saw Aya's car pull up!"

            "Shit!" Rei swore, springing to his toes.

            In a very hurried process, they ripped off their t-shirts and pulled on white dress shirts.   Off came their jeans, revealing their boxers (Rei was wearing Tweety Bird).  Over their underwear came the suit pants, Rei's black, Sei's gray.  The ties were quickly tied around each of their necks by the skillful hands of Sei Kashino, and finally with their suit coats, they were ready by the time Aya knocked at their door.

            A panting Sei answered it, managing to look charming even as he was exerting a light perspiration at his temples.

            Rei peered over his shoulder to see a very dolled up Aya.  She had on a navy blue velour dress that hugged her figure fittingly.  Nodding with approval, he followed his brother out the door.

            "What had you guys been doing up there?" Aya asked once they had climbed into her car.  "You're all out of breath!"

            Rei shrugged and answered with a simple, "Boys will be boys!"

            She laughed, if not only to be polite, and asked Sei, who was currently feeling guilty for leading Aya into their scheme, "Sei, how is your art coming along?"

            Her reminder made him blush a little.  "I finished a project a little while ago.  It's a clay rose that I sculpted after school.  I just finished painting it last week."

            "Ooh!" she squealed with apparent interest.  "Who are you going to give it to?"

            Sei's face turned even redder than before when Rei announced, "It's for Kira, his girlfriend!"

            "Oh, is that the girl you met that one day at your father's house?"

            He nodded, still red-faced.

            "How about your racing, Rei?  How's that coming along?" she asked, seeming to be interested in what he had to say.  Rei had to give her some credit in that account, she was good at making conversation—that woman had people skills!

            He told her, "It's okay.  I haven't had any major races lately, just fake ones against Akitaka and Kyoko and some of the guys.  Of course, I almost always win," he added with a triumphant smile.

            After receiving a slug from Sei, he corrected, "Honestly, I haven't quite caught up to Akitaka yet, but he's got some competition in me.  He thinks that I could win the four-hour endurance race this year!"

            "Wow!" she exclaimed, sounding very impressed.  Glancing at him in the mirror, she said, "You'll have to get me some front row tickets.  I want to see if your bite can support your bark!"

            "Of course!" he said, grinning charmingly.

            He had realized something in those past few minutes.  It was very hard to dislike Aya Suzuka.  She was young (only early-thirties), witty, charming, and had better social skills possibly than even Rei Kashino himself!  She was the goddess of people skills.  At that point, Rei lost his resolution to despise her, even if she was his father's girlfriend.  She really wouldn't be too bad to have around!

            He grinned as she continued making easy conversation, "How about school?  Are your grades up to par?"

            Sei nodded, "I scored in the top fifty in our last exam for mid-terms!"

            "Good job!" she congratulated, briefly taking her hands from the steering wheel to give him a round of applause.  "Rei," she began with a raised eyebrow, "Do I even want to know how you did on that test?"

            He grinned back at her, "Of course!  Anyone would be happy to be a perfectly rounded number!"  After getting the expected look of confusion, he explained, "I was number three-hundred!"

            Aya masked her laughter with fake coughing while Sei didn't even bother to hide his own.  Even Rei began to laugh at himself, as they pulled into the parking lot of the promised Italian restaurant.

            It was a very quaint place with little seating and hard to get reservations.  Luckily, they had gotten some when another group cancelled; otherwise they wouldn't have been walking through the forest green doors into the foyer.

            Covered in red bricks, the foyer looked like that of a quaint Italian restaurant.  It had green leather cushions that were the same shade as the doors.  There was a small podium for the maître'd, who was awaiting their arrival, it seemed.

            The moment they walked in the room, he snapped out of his daydream and straightened his tuxedo.  Fixing his bowtie as they walked up to him, he asked, "How may I be of service to you?"

            "We have a reservation under Kashino," Aya said with a smile.

            "It will be a small wait," the maître'd told them with an insincere apologetic grin.  "We are currently full."

            "Excuse me," Aya said with an even more insincere grin than the penguin was wearing, "but we are meeting friends, and I am demanding a table.  If you do not give me what I ask for promptly, I will take my business elsewhere.  To let you know, I do have a party of four who are very hungry."

            She nudged Rei and Sei each in the rib, and following her example, they looked angrily at the maître'd.

            With bad acting, he peered into the room and exclaimed, "How fortunate!  You're table has just opened up!  Please follow me."

            They all suppressed a giggle and followed the penguin to the table where Signora, Kira, and Takayuki were already sitting.  As expected, Aya wore a look of surprise.

            Looking at Sei, she whispered, "What are they doing here?"

            "That's Kira, remember?" Sei said, pointing at her, though he knew that pointing is inordinately impolite.

            "Oh," Aya nodded, as if that were explanation enough, "let's be seated then!"

            The seating was in a comfortable arrangement for everyone.  At the round table, seated clockwise, came Aya, Rei, Sei, Kira, Signora, and then Takayuki.  At that point, Signora and Takayuki were having a rather involved conversation while Kira fiddled with her silverware.

            She gave Sei a relieved grin as he sat down beside her.  "I'm so glad that you guys made it!  I was getting worried that I would have to put up with this all night!" she complained, nodding toward the happy couple.

            Signora and Takayuki continued talking, seemingly oblivious to what was going on around them.

            "Hey, Kira," Rei greeted from the other side of his brother.  For shock effect, he leaned over and loudly whispered to his brother, "Aren't you going to kiss her hello or something?"

            Aya let out a little giggle and began to tap her spoon on her water goblet, like they do at weddings.  To hers and Rei's amusement, they both became a deep shade of scarlet.  For even more amusement, Sei leaned over and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

            By that point, even he was laughing as Kira covered her face in her hands.  Aya imitated her, and Rei brought his face close to see what he was doing.  Just when he was right next to her, Aya pulled her hands back and said, "Peek-a-boo!"

            Kira relaxed and started laughing so hard that tears were running from her eyes. It wasn't particularly funny; she was just so relieved that attention had been drawn away from her for awhile.  She squealed happily internally.  Sei had just kissed her!

            She felt an unexpected warm hand rub her back and ask, "Are you okay?"

            Turning, she saw Sei looking happy, but a little concerned.  She wiped her eyes and nodded.  "It was really funny!"

            He smiled a soul-melting smile and she was happy that she was sitting down—if she hadn't been, there would have been a great chance that she would be a puddle at this point.  Instead of melting, she grinned back a genuine smile.  It was great to have a boyfriend.  Kira was so happy that she had met Sei!

            Across the table, Aya was beginning to look just a little bit annoyed.  Sure, it was fun to joke around with the kids, but her boyfriend was completely ignoring her!  Just when she was about to say something rather unpleasant, the waitress appeared before them.

            _Great, Aya thought,__ that's just what I need—another pretty girl for Takayuki to stare at all evening!_

            The interruption proved to be useful in its own way, because Takayuki and Signora finally pulled themselves away from each other and latched onto their menus with searching eyes.

            When the order got around to the last person, Sei, Aya decided to order one more thing for him.  "Also, bring this young man a sundae for two as his dessert!" she said, giving a sly wink in his direction.

            Kira flamed, and Mrs. Aso raised her eyebrows at this unknown woman.  The waiter walked away, and Takayuki finally noticed the other diners that had sat down at his table.

            "Oh!  Hello," he said standing up at his seat.  Reaching across the table, he shook Sei's, Rei's and Aya's hands in turn before sitting back down.  "I didn't even notice that you had arrived!"

            Aya rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath, "Obviously!"

            Rei gave her a look, and she took a deep breath.  Working up her optimism, she put on her usual perky smile.  Rei was right, now was not the time to bring up this problem.  There were other people around!

            "So, Kira!" she said happily.  "I've heard from Sei that you're an artist, too?  Any particularly impressive projects lately?"

            "Sure!" she said with an embarrassed smile, but she was clearly pleased.  "This weekend, there's an art exhibition.  Actually, it's tomorrow and Sunday.  One of my paintings is being admired there!"

            "Wow!" Aya exclaimed, impressed at this girl's work.  "What's it of?"

            Rei snorted as she turned even redder and replied in a whisper, "—Kashino," leaving the first name barely audible.

            "Painting your boyfriend, eh?" she said in a teasing tone.  "Bet you guys had fun all alone in that art room, huh?"

            Kira's eyes widened in horror, and Aya assured her that she was merely kidding.  There was a break in the speech as Aya looked over at Signora.  Turning back to Kira, she asked, "So how did you start painting?"

            "My dad was an artist," she said, recalling the conversation that she had spoken with Sei but mere weeks before.  "We used to paint and stuff and he's basically my inspiration," she said, giving her the briefest tale that she could tell.

            "I see," Aya said, taking the hidden implications.   So, Kira's father was dead.  That meant that Signora was currently unattached?

            Noticing Aya's menacing glare, Signora decided to make conversation with her.  Maybe that would explain who she was and just what her connection was to the Kashinos.

            "I don't believe we've met before," she said, standing and taking her hand.  "My name is Signora Aso.  It's a pleasure to meet you!"

            Aya put on a perfectly charming smile that could be mistaken for sincere and replied, "I'm Aya Suzuka, and the pleasure is all mine!"

            "Hello, Aya," she smiled pleasurably.  "What line of work are you currently in?"

            "I work for the amusement park 'Wataki Garden.'  My job is to research rides, but usually I act as a general manager and take surveys of guest opinions and things like that.  It's really fun!"

            "Sounds exciting!" Signora agreed.

            To put a lull in the conversation, the waiter came at that moment with the food.  Everyone was brought a steamy Italian dish and a side salad.  Of course, Kira and Sei had their special ice cream, much to Aya's amusement.

            "Dig in!" Mr. Kashino announced almost as a form of grace.

            And dig in everyone did!  While Kira picked daintily at her salad, just two seats down from her Rei attacked his lasagna.  Aya gobbled up her fettuccini and got the sauce all over her face while Takayuki slurped up his spaghetti in long strands.

            As everyone moved on to their second dish, speech became more comfortable.  Unexpectedly, it was Kira who broke the ice.

            "Hey, Sei," she began between mouthfuls, "did you see the painting in the lobby?  It's a kind of interesting work."

            "No," he said, wiping is mouth with his napkin.  Standing up, he offered his hand to Kira and asked, "Shall we go look?"

            She took his hand and stood up.  Turning to Rei, she said, "Why don't you follow?" hoping that he would get her mental pattern.

            Thankfully he did and pushed his chair in behind him, following Kira's lead into the red brick room.  Turning back to the adults, he explained, "I'd better keep these crazy kids under control.

            As soon as they were in the lobby, Kira yanked the twins, one in each hand, to sit down on the leather bench, one on either side.

            "This hasn't been working," she declared with the utmost importance.  "They've been distracting us with their teasing.  We've got to come up with something new, and quickly!  Else wise, we'll have to give our plan up for tonight."

            "You're right," Sei agreed with a nod.  "But what should we do?"

            "I think that Aya could take a little bit of embarrassment, don't you?" Rei asked with a sly grin.

            "Just don't do anything stupid!" Sei warned as they headed back to the table.

            At their seats, they found that the adults had completed their meals and gotten the check.  Continuing to talk politely, they stared at the children when they came back.

            "Hurry up and eat," Takayuki ordered.  "I don't want to wait forever."  Turning to the others he added a quick, "No offense."

            "None taken," they assured.

            Sei looked at his place and realized that the ice cream had actually been brought.  It was in front of him, looking very classic.  It had three vanilla scoops covered in chocolate, whipped cream, and with a strawberry on top.  In a boat with two spoons, his face grew red at the thought of sharing it with Kira.

            Noticing that his brother was feeling flustered, Rei quickly came to the rescue.  "Do you know what to do?  Here," he said, reaching over and pulling the boat towards him, "it's like this."  He held out a small spoonful to Aya.  "Say, ah!"

            Aya complied and got a spoonful of the ice cream.  "Watch one more time," he commanded after this first successful attempt.  Doing the same thing, he held it out to her.  Then, he let the spoon tip.  Out fell the ice cream onto Aya's lap.

            "Oh, no!" Rei exclaimed with believable innocence.  "I'm so sorry, Aya!"

            Aya let out a deep sigh.  "It's okay.  I'm going to go see if I can get this stain out."  It was a big stain, too.  The chocolate left a slight train down the waist and landed in a clump in her lap.  She'd already removed that section, but in its place was a big brown splotch.

            "Let me go with you," Signora insisted.  "I know a trick or two about this sort of thing."

            She ushered the fragile Aya to the ladies room where they tried to get the stain out.  Back at the table, the teenagers were gathered in a small huddle on their side of the table.

            Letting out a sigh at his failed attempt to mess up the relationships, he looked at the others.  With an unhappy facade, he announced, "This is going to be harder than we thought!"

AUTHOR'S NOTES:  Kyaa!  I really finished this!  Aren't you all so happy?  My personal favorite part of this section was the Tweety Bird boxers.  That just seemed so Rei to me!  What did you all think?  Um, I don't know exactly how spilling ice cream on Aya would help break up Takayuki and Signora, but I'm sure that Rei had his own plan in his head! ^^;;  I hope that this super sized chapter will help with the lack of updates (actually, it's only about five hundred words longer than usual)!  Let's see if I can make it to eighty reviews! XD  I rushed this to finish at the end, but I hope that no one could tell.  I'll try to update this with more diligence as long as you guys continue to support me! 


	11. Creative Displays

AUTHOR'S NOTES:  I have some news—good for me, bad (good) for you.  The next chapter will be the last one in this fic.  I'll probably write an epilogue, too, because I have the best and sweetest idea!  But, this story is coming to a close.  As you probably have noticed, my updates have become increasingly spread out, and also my writing for this story has gotten a lot worse (I'd say that I was in my prime around chapter seven and eight).  So, I decided to quit while I was ahead.  My goal was to have 100 reviews, but I guess that I won't reach it.  So, I guess, just please read my story and see if you can put me to my goal!  Enjoy this second to last chapter, okay?  (By the way, this has just been quickly spell-checked by me, so there might be some errors.  This was all because I was so sick during my spring break.  I almost wish that I at least had some school to miss instead of vacation.)

What Wasn't Meant to Be by Sushifishie

Chapter Eleven: Creative Displays

Kira hummed happily as she walked to the first art show that had ever displayed any of her artwork.  She recalled when her art teacher had told her about her painting's submission, and she was overjoyed.  Sei was even happier, knowing in his mind that he was the model.

            She thought of Sei—his gorgeous blonde hair that stood out in a crowd and his captivating eyes that she had failed to capture in her painting.  Kira regretted not being able to paint him at all how she had meant to paint him, in fact, she was painting a different person altogether.  Still, she imagined his smiling face that would be willingly offered to her if she got a prize in the show, and her heart raced at that killer grin.

            Those thoughts brought up others—things like the confession.  She could just imagine the couple as old grandparents, still talking about it.  She imagined herself chiding Sei for confessing in such a lame manner.  But Sei would come back with showing how far that confession had got them.  Then, they would share and old-person kiss—just a slight peck on the lips.  They would hold hands and rock on their porch swing as their old puppy scurried around their toes.

            Letting out a sigh, Kira smiled.  But, where did Rei fit into all of this?  During the past few days, she had almost forgotten about her little crush.  It was wearing away, just like she had expected.  Maybe Rei had kissed her first and captured her heart first—but Sei had done a better job of it.  Slow and steady wins the race!

            Yet, even though she was beginning to lose her crush on Rei, she still didn't have those feelings for Sei!  How could that be possible?  She often wondered about that.  Walking to the art show that day, she came up with her reasoning.  She did feel that way.  She just wasn't mentally prepared.  After all, they'd only been going out for a week or so.  She didn't want to move any faster than they already had been doing.

            For the time being, Kira decided, they would remain close friends with an excuse to hang out often.  That seemed okay, and she was pretty sure that's how Sei felt, too, being the opposite of his brother in almost every way.  Rei would have already gotten her in the sack, probably, Kira thought with a blush.  But Sei was a real gentleman—he would never do anything like that until she gave him the go-ahead.  That wouldn't be anytime soon!

            Turning the corner onto a different street, she remembered her other problem—the parents.  Although she could still marry Sei, even if their parents were married, it would still be very weird.  Nothing stands in the way of love supposedly, but it would still be awkward to double date with your parents.

            But, how else could they be spilt up?  She still didn't understand quite what Rei had been trying to do on the night of the family dinner.  To her understanding, Rei thought that Aya was almost at her breaking point.  If one more little thing happened, she would finally crack.  He thought that she would have left by then, but then Mrs. Aso decided to help her clean up.  That made her want to stay because that made Mrs. Aso seem like a good person.  He'd wanted Aya to leave and his father to chase after her, making Kira's mom leave for good.  Then, the choice would have been made.  But, now, it hadn't worked out.  Now, they were still in the same situation.

            Kira pulled another idea off the top of her head, wishing that Rei or Sei was there.  They would have fun with this idea.  They could wait for the next date and drop a nuclear bomb on the restaurant.  Sure, it would kill everyone, but at least the parents would still be split up—literally.

            Giving herself a mental slap, Kira forced the grin off of her face.  Killing people was not something to laugh about, but for some reason it was still so funny!  The smile reappeared and she thought of a more practical method.

            They could just go to every date with their parents and be the most annoying people ever, she thought as she pushed open the doors of the convention center.  There was just one problem with that plan, too.  They would most definitely get into a lot of trouble with their parents.  So that one was out of the question, too!

            Entering the main hall, Kira looked around at the creative displays.  It was the annual city art show that really came about twice a year, though it was dubbed annual.  At the entryway, they had set up some of the previous winners that had been bought by the convention center as teasers.  There were a dozen entries at least ranging from sculptures to oil paintings, from charcoal drawings to photographs.  Amazed at the quality, she wondered how her piece had even gotten successfully submitted.

            She knew that answer!  Obviously it was because of her model.  He was too good-looking to not be on display.  Certain that many girls liked him, Kira reminded herself that she didn't like him quite in that way!  That kiss was all one-sided, right?

            Gazing across the room, she saw a figure speeding toward her.  It was Sei holding something behind his back.  Curious about what it was, Kira approached him and they met at the entry to the second hall which was full of photographs.

            "Hey, Kira," he said with a smile, wrapping her in a hug.  Pulling whatever it was from behind his back, he handed it to her, saying, "I made this for you.  I hope that you— and I—win!"

            "Thanks," she grinned, looking down at her gift.

            She remembered that day in the art room.  Sei looked so cute while he was sculpting.  It came harder to him than sketching—it was almost his weak point artistically.  With his tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth, he looked too cute for words.  Kira had wished that she could have sketched him right at that moment, but if she had brought Sei's attention to his face, she knew that he would have repositioned himself.

            That was also the same day as the confession.  Maybe from when he first got the lump of clay, he knew what he was going to make.  Maybe he knew that this was coming up and made the sculpture for her with that in mind.

            At any rate, it was beautiful.

            "Wow," she breathed with a sparkle in her eyes, "you made this for me?"

            Sei grinned shyly.  "So, you like it then?"

            Kira gave him a heart-stopping smile.  Then, with care not to hurt the flower, she wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug.  Whispering in his ear, she said, "It's perfect."

            "Thanks," he said, hugging her in return.

            After a moment of silence, they parted to stare at each other.  Kira let out a little giggle and Sei soon followed with a goofy grin.  As he saw her face get red, he began to laugh.  She was so cute!

            "Hey," he finally began, breaking the seemingly endless silence, "have you looked at the rest of the art yet?"

            She really hadn't.  All that she'd looked at was the art at the front entry, so she replied, "No.  Let's go."

            Grabbing his hand, she dragged him into the photography room.  They made their way around slowly, gazing at the various photos.  They saw landscapes, portraits, and still-lifes.  One thing caught Kira's eye in particular.

            "Look, Sei," she said, letting go of his hand to point at a certain photo.  "Look at how well he got captured.  I mean, compared to the first place photograph, I almost wish that this one had won.  I mean, those mountains were really breath-taking, but this is the cutest thing!"

            After carefully analyzing the photo, Sei nodded in agreement.  "It takes skill to catch a bird in flight.  I'm going to have to agree with you.  This one deserves a medal."

            The picture was a yellow canary.  It had just taken off from its cage, which was still present in the background.  While an amateur photo would have had streak marks and the wing span, the photo Sei and Kira were looking at was perfect.  Absent of any signs of movement, it looked as if the bird had been frozen in its flight pattern.

            "I love it," Kira squealed.  "I almost want to meet the photographer!"

            "I know what you mean," Sei replied, feeling the tiniest twinge of jealousy.

            He led her to the next room, which was the one with sculptures.

            They walked around, not finding anything all that remarkable.  Sei was a little bit wary of the unborn babies, being a little freaked out at that sort of thing.  Kira saw the sculpture of one of her classmates, to whom she remembered giving advice.  She recalled giving the hint that using a larger scalpel would allow for a deeper cut without damaging the piece by hitting it with a handle.  She smiled to know that it had gotten entered in the show.

            "Wait," Sei paused as he came to the sculpture, "haven't I seen this piece somewhere before?"  He noticed that Kira was already moving on to the next room and shrugged.  "Oh, well, it's probably just my imagination."

            In the next room, the pair looked at charcoal drawings and sketches.  It seemed that painting skulls was rather popular that year.  Sei commented on this and watched Kira begin to giggle.

            "Of course they are!" she exclaimed.  "They always are!  You know, the skulls were influenced by many great artists.  There was O'Keefe—"

            "And you can't forget Eiichiro Oda!  Go Luffy flag!" Sei interrupted gleefully.

            That earned him a well-deserved smack upside the head.  He laughed at her brief outrage.

            "You silly," she grinned, making her punishment seem less harsh.  "All I'm trying to say is that there's a reason that skulls are so popular.  While a skull seems so dreary, an artist can make it beautiful."

            Sei gave her a look of fake disgust.  "Since when is death beautiful?"

            "Since never," she said, leaving it at that.

            The next room had watercolors.  They walked around the room, critiquing the art like they had in the previous rooms, and they finally reached the first place winner.  Kira grinned and nudged to it with her head.  When Sei saw it, he couldn't keep himself from laughing.

            "I guess that they hadn't entered it yet," he remarked, looking at the painting titled "The Sixth Vertex".

            Kira shrugged, "The rules only say that you can enter your painting in only one show.  I think you're right, they just never entered it.  It's wonderful that it won first place."

            "Yeah," Sei agreed.  "I kind of feel connected to it."

            At last, Kira and Sei reached the oil painting room.

            "Cross your fingers," Sei told her, squeezing her hand in his.

            She obliged and squinted her eyes closed so that she could no longer see even the heavy lights.  No one could understand how badly she wanted to win.  The painting was of her first crush.  Whether or not it placed didn't really matter.  But she felt that as soon as the show was over, a chapter of her life would end.  It seemed like after the painting was put in a museum, she would get over her crush.  But, maybe that would be for the better.  Should she really forget that boy in the painting?

            "Kira," she heard her voice called.

            Without thinking, she opened her eyes and saw a flash of blue.  As her eyes adjusted, she could make out the blue into a circle with two spokes stuck in it.  Finally, she saw that it was the blue ribbon—first place.  She slowly drifted her sight toward the painting following the ribbon.

            It was "MARS".

            Sei watched Kira's expressions with some amusement.  First, she brought her hand to her forehead with wide eyes.  Her mouth hung open in amazement.  Then she took a gulp of air and stepped forward nearer to the art.  Bringing her hand closer, she fingered the ribbon between her middle finger and thumb.

            Finally, she turned to Sei.  Then, she broke into her perfect smile.

            "We won!" she cheered, grabbing his hand.

            Sei nodded and brought her into his chest, to her shock.  He told her, "I'm so proud of you, Kira."  He brought the hand that she was holding to his face and gave it a small kiss.  "Thank you."

*          *          *

Rei was humming as he finished his sixth lap around the convention center.  He hadn't really wanted to go there in the first place—Sei had told him that Kira's painting was on sale.  While Rei wasn't the true model for the art, he still felt a special connection to the painting.  When he first saw the art, he selfishly thought that it looked a lot more like him than Sei.  Never telling anyone that thought, he felt somewhat guilty.  But, it was the truth.

            Yet, even that painting couldn't have made the show more interesting.  Rei picked out his favorite work from every room, drank so much punch in the main room that he'd memorized the wallpaper in the bathrooms, and counted the total number of entries, which totaled to six-hundred, seventy-nine—give or take a few.

            Almost wondering why he was still there, he continued through the first few rooms, coming to a stop at the entrance to the oils.  He had to keep himself from laughing out loud.

            Standing next to her painting of "MARS", Sei and Kira were having a little public display of affection.  While he knew that it wasn't true, it looked almost like he was giving her a hand job, and he just couldn't bear to stand at the entry one second longer.

            He walked over to the happy couple and stuck his head between their very close bodies.  With a cocky grin he commented to his brother, "Guess we need to have a little talk about time, place, and occasion, huh?"

            "Why I ought to sock you, Rei Kashino," Sei waved his fist menacingly.

            Then, he honestly did want to punch his twin.  The next thing he knew, Rei had wrapped his girlfriend into a big hug.

            "Congratulations, Kira," he said from his place on her shoulder.  "Couldn't have painted it better myself."

            After saying something under his breath, Sei spoke up.  "I'm going to go get some punch.  I don't care if it's not allowed by the art.  We're going to celebrate!"

            He hurried off, leaving a blushing Kira in the arms of his brother.  Rei soon stepped away and began to acknowledge the painting fully.  He ran his fingers over the edge of it, taking in the brush strokes.  Then, he leaned in and sniffed the paint.

            "Um, Rei," Kira giggled as she saw a man walk in from another room.  "Rei," she said again, tapping his shoulder.

            Looking very official, the man strode toward them.  In his classic suit, he looked very mature, and in Kira's opinion, very handsome.  She wondered why he was walking toward him.

            "Please don't touch the art young man," he said.

            Rei turned around and the man started.  Wide eyed, he gaped as the painting met its subject.  With honor, the man bowed, and Rei pretended to cough for fear that he would burst out laughing.

            "It's such an honor to meet the subject of a painting that I, myself, judged," he said, leaning to the floor.  "I can see that the art truly reflects the subject."

            Rei was puzzled.  Sure, he thought that it looked more like him than Sei, but it certainly wasn't a picture of him.  It showed too much inner beauty—Rei was not a warm enough person to emit all of those beautiful colors.  He wanted to argue with the man and tell him that he was just a temporary subject.  Maybe the man didn't understand that he had a twin.  That must have been it—there was no way he would mistake the portrait to be Rei after he'd seen Sei and Kira together.  There was just no way.

            Watching the man look over the painting again, he asked Kira, "Are you the artist?  I don't know what it is about you, but you seem like a person who can capture inner beauty.  While the person in this painting is already very good looking," he began, giving Rei a pointed look, "you also made him seem so deep.  He has a warmth and elegance about him and he seems to be more that just a pretty face.  This portrait has a soul."

            Kira blushed, saying, "Thank you, sir.  I truly appreciate your comments."

            "You mean complements," Rei corrected with a nudge of his elbow.

            Why wasn't Kira correcting the man?  He'd just imagined that he was really the one in the painting and not Sei.  For just an instant, Rei wondered if maybe he shouldn't correct the man, either.  The first place winners always got in the paper, so if Kira was in the paper maybe—Rei—her subject would be in it, too.

            He quickly decided against that thought.  There was no way Sei would ever forgive him for doing that.  Especially since Kira was his girlfriend.  The hug was enough for him.  His reaction to the hug made Rei even happier that he wasn't dating Kira when Rei kissed her.  But he'd definitely have to tell the man—if not for his own sake, then for Sei's and Kira's.  He owed it to them.

            "Excuse me, sir," he began, looking at the man straight in the eye.  He would have been menacing except he was wearing a pink hair tie.  No man wearing a pink hair tie can look overly menacing.  He continued, "I'm sorry to lead you to false conclusions, but that's not me in the paining."

            "Why, of course it is, son!" the man smiled.  "I don't think that I've ever seen a face quite like yours.  It's a true gift boy.  Speaking of looks, I have connections in an excellent modeling company if you'd like to put the looks to use.  Or, I could get you hooked up with some of my friends from art school.  A few of them have continued to become directors, and depending on your skill, you might get a part in a play."

            Rei grinned, forgetting the subject of conversation and lied, "I'm sorry.  I'm already with a company."

            Kira looked at the two giggling to herself.  The man almost seemed to be leading Rei away from the actual subject.  She could tell that he knew what he was talking about in art—but she wasn't exactly sure that Rei understood that he was being led in a u-turn.  He was completely unfocused on the painting.  She got a little worried when he remembered the topic.

            "Oh, yeah," he said, hitting his forehead, "we were talking about the subject of the painting.  Listen, I don't think that you know this, but I have a brother.  He's my twin and we look exactly alike."

            The man nodded, "You could bring him to talk to the agents, if your company will let you go.  If both of you were in a movie, I'm sure that the popularity of your company would boom.  Actually, if you're really that interested, I could write you a guarantee.  I could tell your agency that I insist that popularity would boom after your work in a play or movie."

            "I don't think they'd like that," Rei said, shaking his head.

            Kira started laughing out loud.  Walking in from the hall with their drinks, Sei stopped.  Even though he said he wouldn't care, there was a man standing with Rei and Kira.  He didn't want to get caught until Kira had at least gotten a sip of the excellent punch.  Rei certainly seemed to like it.  He leaned in the entry just out of sight and heard their conversation.  Kira was laughing.

            "What's so funny?" the man asked pleasantly.

            Kira shook her head and waited for Rei to catch on again.  It took him almost thirty seconds of staring before he remembered.

            He cleared his throat and spoke loudly.  "Listen, this painting really isn't of me.  Kira painted my brother, Sei, who is off getting our drinks—I mean—a drink from the main hall.  He should be back soon, and you'll be able to tell.  This is really him.  She definitely didn't paint me."

            "No, I'm sure that it's you.  I can see your eyes in the picture.  No two people have the same eyes—the eyes are the doors to your soul, you know.  I can see your soul in there.  Just from looking at this painting, I could tell that you care deeply for your brother.  You care for him so much that you would go so far as to change your hair-color to be different from him."

            "How did you know that Sei had different hair than me?" Rei asked him with one raised eyebrow.

            "Well, your hair is different from that of the painting.  Also, I could tell that the brown is not natural—it's too streaky, no offense.  Also, the man in the painting seems like he cares deeply for those around him.  I know that you love your brother because you the right colored hair in the painting, showing your deep connection to him.  In real life, you changed your deep connection by dying your hair.  You did that to make yourself different and to please your brother."

            Rei thought that wasn't quite the truth, but it was close enough.  He wasn't going to argue with the man, especially while Sei's girlfriend was standing there.  He wasn't sure that he could trust her not to go and tell Sei their entire conversation so far.

            "Okay, while that sounds nice and sugary," Rei defended, shaking his finger violently, "it's not at all true.  If you don't believe me, ask Sei!  Sei, come on out here," he beckoned.

            Sei rose to his feet incredulously.  Even without matching hair, he supposed that he and Rei still had special link.  He walked out uncertainly and faced the man in the suit.

            Biting his lip, he said, "Rei only posed for one day.  Kira painted me.  I'm the one in the painting."  Looking to Kira for support, he said, "Tell him that's me, Kira!  Let him know that I'm the one you spent so much time and effort painting."

            Kira gulped and looked back at him with pleading eyes.  She watched as Sei's eyes widened in horror.  Could it be?

            "Kira, tell me that Sei Kashino is the one in the painting," Sei said glaring at her.  He was making her feel intimidated, but he demanded, "Tell me that it's Sei, not Rei."

            Shifting her eyes to the man, she silently asked him for help.  He gave her a pitying look and turned to watch the boys' reactions.  They were standing stunned, facing Kira.  They were positively petrified.

            "I'm so sorry, Sei," she admitted.

            Sei began to move again.  His hand went toward his face to cover his eyes.  With a shaky voice, he asked, "Is that really true, Kira?  You painted Rei?"

            "I'm so sorry. . ."

            "But did you paint him or me?" Sei shouted, his face reddening.

            Kira bit her lip and answered, "Rei."

            Slowly, Sei turned and walked out of the room.  He left the convention center.

            "I'm sorry," she bowed at the man in the suit.  "I have to leave now," she said, wiping tears from her eyes.

            Rei reached out to catch her shoulder.  "Kira," he said softly, "do you want me to take you home?"

            She shook her head.  "Thanks, Rei.  But, I need to be alone right now.  Good-bye," she waved, tracing the path that Sei had taken.  She left, too.

            Shifting his eyes to the man, he wondered what he should do now.  He should probably retrieve Kira's ribbon and take it to her later, but what would he do after that?

            He looked questioningly at the man.  He just shrugged and walked away, too.

            Rei let out a deep sigh.  Then, he yelled to the paintings in the empty room.  He yelled, "What the hell is going on?"

AUTHOR'S NOTES:  Oh, my gosh!  I actually got another chapter written.  It's not even as short as I thought it was going to be!  The next chapter will tie up loose ends and actually end this story!  Yay!  As I said at the beginning of the chapter, I will be writing an epilogue because I have hints of what's going to happen in this chapter.  It takes place in the future, but I'm not going to tell you when.  Let me just say, it's not what you're going to expect.  You can guess what it will be about, but I guarantee that it will be wrong!  Anyway, please review and get me to 100.  I promised not to set goals, but I've always wanted 100 reviews.  Please, pretty-please?  Thanks for reading and I hope that you liked it!


	12. Broken Petals

AUTHOR'S NOTES:  Wahh!  This is the last chapter before my epilogue (which is kind of like a one-shot with a slight connection to this story—well, more than a slight connection because Sei is in it—but you all understand what I'm saying).  Wouldn't you just know that as soon as I'm ending this, I begin to wish that I'd made it longer so I could keep writing?  Bah, humbug!  Well, I could always write a sequel if I come up with a really good idea, right?  Anyway, please read my ending.  It's a tad bit short because. . . I don't know why.  I only wrote it in two sittings, so that's probably it.  This is also a kind of choppy chapter because I'm concluding (I hope) every aspect of my story.  If you have questions about any of the facets, you can write them in your review and I'll try to add them into my epilogue.  Here's a super important note to all of you who haven't read to volume six: **there are spoilers in this chapter for volume six and possibly seven.  Read at your own risk!  But the spoilers aren't that bad—trust me.  They're about a side character anyway.  Please read this anyways!**

What Wasn't Meant to Be by Sushifishie

Chapter Twelve: Broken Petals

Twisting the clay flower in his fingers, Sei heaved a sigh.  It never took too much to get him depressed, but this was the saddest he'd felt in a long time.  He'd skipped the shrink appointment that day and had been brooding ever since.  He wanted to smash the flower into tiny pieces, just to show Kira how angry he was.  But, he wasn't honestly that angry.  As his overflowing eyes finally let a small tear fall down his cheeks, he remembered the painting he'd made of his mother.  She was crying, too—crying until her face was blackened with tears.

            Sei wondered if he should blacken his face, too.  Kira was the first person who really accepted him and wasn't family.  If she was choosing Rei over him, then wouldn't everyone else choose the same?  Would anyone care if he decided to die?

            Giving himself a mental slap, he put the flower on the bed.  It wasn't as bad as he was making it out to be.  It was possible that Kira just liked Rei's pose more than Sei's, right?  No—that was not possible.  Sei knew that a painting had nothing to do with a pose; it had to do with feelings between the painter and the model.  Kira and Rei had something better than what Kira and Sei had, he knew.  Otherwise, it would have been him in the painting.

            Also, Kira wouldn't have left his gift at the show.  If Rei had not noticed it on the floor, it would probably be gone forever.  At least he could still keep the sculpture, even if Kira did turn it down.

            But, what did Kira and Rei have between them?  Sei knew that Rei had kissed her on the Ferris wheel, but he had said that there wasn't anything behind it.  He'd told his brother that it was just a Rei Kashino impulse, just like he always had.  It'd seemed a little bit peculiar, but Sei had given him the benefit of the doubt.

            Now, though, Kira had returned the favor almost.  She'd painted him with feeling and never told anyone.  She'd let everyone assume that she was just painting her boyfriend, when actually it was her boyfriend's brother—his twin nonetheless.  This story might even be in the newspaper, he didn't really know.  Then, the entire city would know that he'd gotten shot down.  Rei always won at everything.  Now, he even got the girl.

            Sei picked up the flower and put it in the microwave.  At least he wouldn't be able to see it there.  As he sat back down on the bed, wondering why he hadn't died that time in junior high, he wiped away another tear.  What was happening to him?

*          *          *

The sun was blinding outside of the apartment complex next to his bike.  Rei looked up to where he knew Kira lived and squinted.  The blinds were shut, but it appeared that there was some light streaming through from a lamp.  He bit his lip and began to wonder if he really should talk to her.

            How did he really feel about her?  Sometimes, Rei only wanted happiness for his brother and wouldn't dream of stealing away his very first girlfriend.  But, other times, he found himself wishing that he had seen her first and wanted to steal her away.  Though that gave little credit to Kira's loyalty, he was certain that he could take her if he wanted.  Then he would remember his brother and return to wishing him happiness and a pleasant future.  His brain was so muddled!

            He approached the building with rising apprehension.  He didn't quite trust himself to be alone with Kira.  The last time that happened—that was the kiss.  Oh, the kiss!  Rei didn't really know how Kira had felt about the kiss.  She had told him that it was all right because it was just the way that he was, but was she really that unaffected?  Usually, a girl would fall for him after one kiss, but why was it that she resisted?  She did resist his charms, right?

            Shaking his head, he pushed open the door to the lobby.  At the front desk, there was a bell to ring for the landlady, who was always absent in his own apartment.  Of course, Kira's apartment also had much better security than his own—she would never have a fight outside her living room door.  He stepped toward the desk, poised to ring the bell.

            Then, he stopped.  Did he really want to talk to Kira?  Would it really make things any better?  Maybe he needed to think this out more carefully.

            Rei turned his heel and left the lobby, going back onto the street.  Heading across it and down a little ways, he continued onto the park grounds.  There, he found a secluded bench and took a seat, watching people meander past on their way to the gardens.

            Without really thinking, he began to pick at the corners of his fingers.  This whole thing was just too complicated.  He just wanted to forget everything that happened in the past few months and return to how it used to be.  Sei didn't have a girlfriend and Rei caught tail almost every night.  Something in his mind told him that wouldn't be for the better.  Kira had made too much of an impact on both of their lives.  Neither of the boys wanted a life without her.  She was important to them.

            Trailing his gaze with a mother and two children, Rei grinned.  He wondered if he'd ever come to this park with his mother.  Was Sei with them at the time?  Did their dad participate in their lives like he was trying so desperately now?

            He felt a thunk on the bench beside him and glanced over to see who had sat down.  It was Harumi, the girl who had talked to him at the circuit.  The one who he'd turned down more than once.  She had obviously been very jealous of Rika, and he knew what she was there for.  Another love confession was well on its way.

            "Rei," she began with a piercing stare, "you know what I'm about to say, don't you?"

            He nodded.  "I have a faint idea."

            "If that's the case, then what's your answer?" she asked in a low voice.  "Why won't you go out with me?"

            Rei sighed.  "I don't know why—too hung up on something, unresolved love, stuff like that, you know?"

            "Are you talking about Rika?" she questioned incredulously.

            Shaking his head, he replied, "Not really.  It's someone else, but it's not really anyone's business.  I'll have to talk it out with the person before I talk to you about it."

            As he stood to leave, Harumi ventured, "So that's a no, then?"

            "That's a not yet," he grinned.  "I already have your number.  I'll call you when I'm free," he said, pointing a finger at her as he walked away.

            As he headed back toward his motorcycle destined for his own apartment, he thought to himself, _that girl will never give up_!

*          *          *

Kira twisted her finger around her phone cord, almost swearing that she heard a motorcycle outside.  If that wasn't coincidence she didn't know what was.  Here, she was debating calling Sei, and she swore that she heard Rei's motorcycle.

            Sighing, she put the phone back in the receiver.  Was she really ready to call him yet?  Surely, he was still unbelievable angry at her, or as Rei might say, super pissed.  Should she risk calling him and getting her hopes crushed?  Was apologizing even something that she could do over the phone?

            Gulping, she reached for the phone with grim determination.  If she didn't call now, she had a feeling that she never would.  It would be awkward to go to school and see him in the halls and in club.  There would be extreme discomfort—something that was not desired by either party.  It was definitely better to make up the day before.  Would he accept her apology?

            She dialed his number, crossing her fingers that maybe he wouldn't pick up.  If he didn't answer the phone, then she would be off the hook!  She could say that she tried calling, but no one answered and could get rid of the guilty feeling in the pit of her stomach.  Please don't pick up!

            "Hello?" a voice on the other line answered.  "This is Rei's and Sei's.  Sei is speaking."

            "Good morning," Kira responded hesitantly.  She could almost see him frown on the other end.  She groped for something to grasp for comfort and ended up clutching a bottle of shampoo.

            On the other phone, Sei flopped onto his bed and felt the tension rise.  He let out a heavy breath before saying, "Listen, Kira, I—"

            "Wait, don't hang up!" she pleaded, dropping the shampoo and leaping to her feet.  Beginning to pace, she told him, "Sei, I really need to talk to you—soon.  So, could you swing by?  I can meet you in the park right outside the garden, okay?"

            The line went silent for a few moments.  _Oh, God, Kira thought,__ this is it!  He's going to break up with me!_

            "Okay," he answered finally.  "I'll meet you at the park."

            As the line went dead, Kira found herself squealing happily.  After all that she'd done to him, Sei was still willing to talk to her!  He was so forgiving, not to mention super hot.  Maybe that was the reason she was falling in love with him.  Wait—she was in love with Sei?

            Before she could help herself from thinking it, she realized that it was true.  She was falling in love with Sei.  There was a reason their parting hurt her so much, she really did love him!

            "I love Sei," she admitted to the kitchen table.

            Then, she turned and headed for her room to fix herself for the park.

*          *          *

"Officer, I'm sure that it was just a mistake," Aya evaded, crossing her fingers behind her back.  "While it is your place to look over the children under your care, I insist that Masao did not cause the fire intentionally.  If he did, it was through no fault of the park's."

            Officer Okuda raised his eyebrow.  "I'm not saying that it was the park's fault, I'm just saying that since you were around when Masao committed the felony, you may have to testify in court."

            "So, you aren't suing my park for lack of security?" she asked, knowing that she was treading in dangerous waters.

            "Heavens, no!" he chuckled.  "Wherever did you get that idea?  It was Masao's fault entirely!  While I don't like to see any of my kids put in Juvenile Hall, it's about time that kid got put someplace where he can't do any more harm.  Really, he should have gone a long time ago."

            Aya nodded, "Yes, I am not a newbie to Masao's—eccentrics.  He's caused my park more than one lawsuit in the past year."

            Officer Okuda nodded.  "He's been like that ever since I found him beat up in an ally.  Apparently, he was bullied often because of his appearance."

            "Who bullied such a defenseless kid like Masao?" Aya wondered.  Although he was very violent as of late, she knew that Masao used to be a sweet and gentle boy.  It was almost as if his evil twin had come into play.

            "I'm sorry, Ms. Suzuka," he said apologetically.  "I'm not at liberty to answer that question.  Actually, I've probably told you more than you should have known.  I can trust you to keep our conversation confidential, can't I?"

            Aya shrugged, "I have to file a report, but I can keep the part about Masao's past to a bear minimum.  Let me get my papers. . ."

            Suddenly, a phone rang.  Wondering who was calling her cell phone, Aya pulled the device out of her suede jacket.  She flipped the case open and pulled up the antenna.  Then, she pressed talk, hoping that it was nothing important.

            "Aya," Takayuki said teasingly in her ear, "I have a little problem."

            Just the person she didn't want to hear!  Aya had half a mind to turn off her phone after the stunt he'd pulled the other night.  He'd invited another date to the restaurant with them.  What was her name—?

            "This isn't about Signora, is it?" she demanded in a stern voice, completely unlike her character.  "Takayuki!" she demanded.

            She heard a definite pause on the other line before there was any explaining.  "Yeah," he admitted, "actually it is.  Listen, I love what we had going, but I just didn't see any future, you know?"

            Aya coughed into the receiver, letting him know that she was not at all pleased with him.  A few feet away, Officer Okuda wondered who she was talking to.  It was probably her boyfriend, judging by her tone of voice.  They were probably having a fight.

            "You're in the prime of your life!" Takayuki pointed out.  "I'm an old fogy now, and you wouldn't want to be seen with me anyway.  I can really see Signora taking care of my children like a mother, do you understand?  She has a child of her own, and I think that it's in the boys' best interest to have her for a mother."

            "So, you're breaking up with me?" Aya asked pointedly.

            "In so few words, yes."  She could hear him groan, "I'm so sorry Aya, sweetie."

            "Yeah, yeah," she shrugged.  "I had a feeling this was coming.  Oh, well, it's for the better, right?"  She smiled, "See you around, Kashino!"

            "Thanks for understanding," he said as he hung up the phone.

            After putting her cell back in her coat, she continued to gather the formal report papers to take back to Officer Okuda.  To her surprise, and the dropping of papers, he'd found his own way into her office, and had apparently heard her entire phone conversation.

            "Fight with your boyfriend?" he pried, sounding sincere.

            Aya shook her head, "Not really a boyfriend.  He was more of an acquaintance."  She smiled flirtatiously, back to her old self already.

            Having known Aya for a good many years, the officer understood what she was trying to get from him, and just this once, he decided to comply.  "All right, Aya.  What do you say we go and talk these reports over a nice dinner?"

            She smiled even wider, saying, "I'd say yes!"

            Hand in hand, they left the park and headed for the restaurant, where they had a very nice dinner free of scheming teenagers and jealous suitors.  It was spaghetti.

*          *          *

Rei was at the park for the second time that day.  He was pleased to note that Harumi seemed to be gone, at least from the gardens.  Looking at the entrance, he noticed a young couple with their arms wrapped around each others' waist.  Leaning up for a kiss, the female had a wide smile on her face.  The guy obliged and held her a little tighter than before as they continued.

            So immersed in watching the people, he hardly even noticed when someone came and sat down next to him—almost.  He appeared not to notice, especially when the person moved closer to him.  He thought that it might have been Harumi, so he took in a deep breath.  His fears were unjustified.

            "I used to like you, you know," the girl said from her spot on the bench.

            Slowly, Rei turned to look at her.  On the bench, sitting next to him, was the girlfriend of his brother—Kira.  What was she doing talking to him?  Wasn't she supposed to making up with Sei rather than spouting pick-up lines to the brother?  Unless—

            "You know that I'm Rei, don't you?" he asked somewhat suspiciously.  Maybe she had the wrong brother.

            "I know," she nodded, looking at the ground.  Her foot was swinging on the concrete path, kicking little pebbles as she spoke.  "I know that I'm talking to Rei."

            Rei nodded in acknowledgement and let out his breath.  He sat back on the bench without really turning to look at the girl sitting next to him.  To be honest, he didn't want to hear what she was going to say next.  Depending on what came out of her mouth, he couldn't trust himself not to just ask her out then and there.  He hoped that it wouldn't come to that.  While he was thinking, there was a pause that was quite awkward from Kira's perspective.

            She broke it with, "I used to have a crush on you.  That's what I wanted to tell you."

            Rei looked at her, stunned.  "Used to?" he asked.

            Nodding, Kira confirmed, "I really do love Sei.  I just didn't know it, or didn't want to believe it."

            "Oh," he said, staying aloof.  Inside, he was rather stunned.  So the girl had been as attracted to him as he was to her?  It wasn't just one-sided?  By her confession, he actually felt a little disappointed.  This was a time when he wished he'd met her first, then she would be saying, "I really do love Rei," instead of the other way around.  Life sucked, but oh, well.

            Kira finally spoke again, "I just wanted to let you know that I really did like you first."

            Smiling, Rei rose to his feet.  Someone was nearby, and he didn't want the conversation to last any longer.  He pulled Kira into a hug, wishing that he could have stayed that way forever.  Clearly, though, he'd been rejected.  It was time to move on to better things.  He walked out of sight, turning to watch his brother appear in his spot at the bench.

            "I'm so sorry, Sei," Kira began with her head still facing the ground.  "I don't know why I painted Rei instead of you."

            Sei nodded and explained, "I've done a lot of thinking about that, too.  I think I figured out why you did.  See, I was never completely open with you about my past, so you couldn't really see my soul.  But Rei shared so much with you in that one day that a flood of feelings came showing through.  It was natural to want to capture that emotion in your painting.  The art had nothing to do with your feelings, it was about Rei."

            "Wow," Kira said.  "You know, that actually sounds about right.  But it's my fault for not telling you before the show.  I really shouldn't have let you find out that way.  I'm sorry for that, too."

            Sei let a very cute smile appear on his face.  Turning a light shade of red, he said, "I accept your apology."

            "Thank you!" Kira exclaimed, throwing her arms around Sei's shoulders.  He was a little bit startled at her boldness, but returned the hug anyway.

            Leaving her warm breath in his ear, she whispered, "I love you."

            Breaking the embrace, Sei pulled back, seeing that Kira's face was as red as his own.  Taking a gulp of air so that he wouldn't explode, he asked, "What about what you said to Rei a minute ago.  What about liking him first?"

            Grinning, Kira grabbed his hand and said, "Sure, I liked Rei first, but I love you more."

            "Good response," Rei nodded in approval, watching from behind the bushes as they pulled into another hug.  "Though, the action was a little lame.  They're high school students!  Oh, well, they'll have time to learn."

            "Well, if that's the case," Sei grinned broadly, "I love you, too."

            "So, it's conditional love then?" Kira said with fake indignity.

            "But, of course!" Sei teased back, giving her hand a squeeze.  "Oh, yeah, I was thinking about something else this morning, too."

            "Really, what's that?"

            He chuckled, "Remember our operation to break up our parents?  Well, I don't really see any point anymore.  I mean, if they are out on a date, both of us are free.  And, if they happened to get married, we would live in the same house and everything.  We'd see each other every day!"

            "Okay," Kira began suspiciously, "that sounds a little bit perverted.  But, I have to agree with you.  Let's let them have their love.  They let us have ours."

            "Good point.  I love you."

            Kira pulled him into a kiss saying, "I know."

            Watching them lip to lip, Rei decided that it was his cue to exit.  Silently, he slipped to another part of the park and out to the main road.  As he was walking to his bike, he noticed the time.

            "Oh, crap!" he yelled.  "It's time for therapy!"

            Remembering how tied up his brother was at the moment, he decided not to interrupt.  Swinging into his bike, he saw a coffee shop just down the road.  Through the main window, he swore that he could see Tatsuya and Harumi sharing an ice cream sundae.

            Smiling, he pealed out of the parking lot and headed for his doctor's office.  He ran through the door to the blue room five minutes late—right on time for Rei.

            The doctor was sitting at his desk as he usually did.  The session went as it usually did; only there was a sense of completion.  At the end of their time, the doctor announced, "This is our last session together, Rei.  After much discussion and consideration with your father, we've decided that you and your brother have both moved on from what happened at the end of your last school year.  You are ready to leave my hands."

            "Thanks, doc," Rei smiled, gathering his coat to leave.  "You know, Kira and Sei are finally officially together, so he won't be coming in today.  I guess he won't have an official last session."

            "Rei," the doctor began, sounding rather concerned.  "You seem a bit disappointed.  What reason do you have to feel that way?"

            "Oh, I kind of had a little bit of a," he groped for an appropriate word, "crush on Kira earlier this year.  But, that's pretty much over now.  She rejected me."

            "I'm sorry," the doctor told him, sounding sincere.  "Are you all right about that?"

            "Yeah," Rei nodded, giving the doctor a small smile.  "It's. . ." he trailed off.

            The doctor prodded, "It's what?"

            "It's what wasn't meant to be."

AUTHOR'S NOTES:  I forgot how much I love to end things!  I love wrapping everything in the story into a complex little tangle, only to unwind it at the end of my story.  It's my favorite part of writing—conclusions.  I also love to write summaries, which is really weird, because most people seem to hate it.  Oh, well.   The next chapter is my epilogue, which will be kind of short.  This chapter was shorter than I expected it to be, so I might make the end a little bit longer.  No, the epilogue is not necessary to the story in any way; it just makes me happy to write it, because this ending was too. . . I don't know, indefinite?  Oh, well.  Please review for me.  In the next chapter, at the end, I think that I'll give sincere thanks to everyone who's reviewed for me in the past, even if it's just for this chapter.  So, please look for your name and individual thanks.  Look forward to my epilogue!


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